V-Shaped Guide Rails for UUV Trailer Launch and Recovery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional watercraft trailers face challenges in launching and recovering watercraft, especially unmanned or autonomous underwater vehicles (UUVs), under adverse conditions such as cross-currents and wind loading, due to lack of keel topology, requiring excessive manpower and risking collisions with support structures.
Innovation Solution
A rail-based launch and recovery system with adjustable support structures and guide rails that can orient in a V-shaped position, allowing for secure guidance and winching of UUVs onto a trailer, utilizing a winch and tow cables for controlled transport, launch, and recovery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional boat trailers are used to transport and launch watercraft, then transportation capability is provided, but under adverse conditions (cross-currents, wind loading) the watercraft cannot be safely guided onto the trailer due to lack of keel topology
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces guide rails as an intermediary structure between the trailer and the watercraft. These guide rails extend into the water and provide a physical pathway that channels the watercraft onto the trailer, acting as a mediator that compensates for the watercraft's lack of self-guidance capability due to missing keel topology
Solution Approach 2:
The guidance function is segmented into multiple components: guide rails positioned at specific locations, tow ropes attached at multiple points, and coordinated operation by multiple team members. This segmentation allows each component to address specific aspects of the guidance challenge under adverse conditions
2Ease of operation
If multiple lines or tow ropes are used to control watercraft under high drift conditions, then control capability is improved, but miscommunication and human error increase leading to unwanted collisions
Solution Approach 1:
The guide rails serve as a passive intermediary structure that provides continuous physical guidance throughout the launch process. Unlike active human control with multiple tow ropes that is prone to miscommunication, the guide rails automatically channel the watercraft along a safe path, reducing reliance on human coordination and eliminating the risk of communication errors
Solution Approach 2:
The guide rails enable the watercraft to guide itself onto the trailer through passive geometric constraint. The V-shaped configuration and positioning of the rails create a self-channeling effect that directs the watercraft along the desired path without requiring active human intervention or complex coordination among multiple operators
3Device complexity
If the trailer has a narrow opening for loading watercraft, then structural compactness is achieved, but alignment difficulty increases requiring repetitive trial and error
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extends the guidance function from the horizontal plane into the vertical dimension by using guide rails that protrude above the water surface. This dimensional extension provides visual and physical alignment references that guide operators in aligning the watercraft with the trailer opening, eliminating the need for repetitive trial and error while maintaining structural compactness
Solution Approach 2:
The guide rails are pre-positioned in a V-shaped configuration that anticipates the approach path of the watercraft. This preliminary geometric arrangement creates a funneling effect that naturally directs the watercraft toward the correct alignment with the trailer opening before the actual loading begins, preventing misalignment issues rather than correcting them during the process
Data Source
AI summary
The invention disclosed herein include system, kit and method embodiments for transportation, launch and recovery of large watercraft, particularly large unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). Features of the system and kit embodiments may include, but are not limited to guide rails with guide wheels mounted to the open end of a marine trailer that may be fixed or rotating between an open V-shaped position for guiding the watercraft during launch and recovery and a closed parallel position when loaded and during transportation, mounting adapter assemblies that allow the guide rails to tilt vertically to compensate for boat ramp gradient and cable guide posts for maintaining the tow cable within the open end of the trailer during launch and recovery.