Unmanned Watercraft Passive Cooling via Insulating Envelope
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Solution Overview
Problem
Unmanned watercraft face challenges in minimizing energy usage for cooling heat-generating components, improving mean time between failures (MTBF) of cooling devices, and requiring human intervention for maintenance due to conventional cooling methods that rely on active equipment and onboard energy sources.
Innovation Solution
An insulating envelope surrounds heat-generating bodies, allowing heat dissipation to water without using onboard energy, with the envelope positioned outside the submerged part of the watercraft, reducing the need for active cooling equipment and allowing external maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If conventional cooling methods (air conditioner or seawater pump) are used to cool heat-generating bodies, then the heat-generating bodies can be cooled effectively, but energy consumption increases and active equipment failures occur
Solution Approach 1:
The insulating envelope enables the heat-generating body to cool itself by conducting heat directly to the surrounding water without requiring active cooling equipment. The envelope's thermal conduction property allows passive heat dissipation, eliminating the need for energy-consuming air conditioners or seawater pumps while maintaining effective cooling.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces mechanical cooling systems (air conditioners, seawater pumps) with a thermal conduction-based passive cooling system. The insulating envelope acts as a heat conduit to water, substituting mechanical energy-driven cooling with a physics-based thermal transfer mechanism that requires no moving parts or energy input.
2Temperature
If conventional cooling equipment is installed in the watercraft, then heat-generating bodies can be cooled, but the equipment requires maintenance and reduces mean time between failures
Solution Approach 1:
The passive cooling system through the insulating envelope eliminates active cooling equipment that requires maintenance. By using the water environment itself as the cooling medium and the envelope as a thermal conduit, the system removes pumps, motors, and control mechanisms that are subject to failure, thereby significantly improving reliability and mean time between failures.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts and removes active cooling equipment from the watercraft system. Instead of installing air conditioners or seawater pumps, the design uses the natural thermal conduction through the insulating envelope to water, eliminating the problematic mechanical components that reduce system reliability.
3Temperature
If cooling equipment is installed inside the watercraft, then heat-generating bodies can be cooled, but workers must board the watercraft for maintenance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the cooling function from the internal watercraft environment and implements it externally through the insulating envelope that contacts water. This eliminates the need for internal cooling equipment that would require worker boarding for maintenance, as the passive thermal conduction system has no moving parts or components requiring service.
Solution Approach 2:
The passive cooling system requires no human intervention or maintenance activities. The insulating envelope continuously conducts heat to water without requiring workers to board the watercraft for inspection, adjustment, or repair, thereby improving ease of operation and reducing maintenance complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively cools heat-generating components without electricity, enhances MTBF by eliminating active cooling failures, and enables maintenance without a worker boarding the watercraft, reducing operational costs and increasing reliability.
Implementation Method 1
an insulating envelope that surrounds the heat-generating body in an electrically insulated state... The insulating envelope is arranged outside a submerged part of the unmanned watercraft so as to be in contact with water present outside the unmanned watercraft
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides an unmanned watercraft capable of sufficiently cooling equipment that generates a large amount of heat, capable of cooling such equipment without using energy in the watercraft, and capable of improving mean time between failures (MTBF) of a cooling device. An unmanned watercraft 1 has a cooling structure CS for cooling a central processing unit CPU1 for image recognition and a central processing unit CPU2 for control that constitute a central processing unit CPU as a heat-generating body. The cooling structure CS includes a waterproof container 7 that accommodates the heat-generating body (an insulating envelope that surrounds the heat-generating body in an electrically insulated state). The waterproof container 7 is arranged outside a submerged part 3 of the unmanned watercraft 1 so as to be in contact with water present outside the unmanned watercraft 1, the submerged part 3 being submerged in water.