Underwater vehicle
AssigneeAutonomous Robotics Limited
InventorsDavid Alexander William Grant, Arran James Holloway
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An underwater vehicle comprising: port and starboard thrusters spaced apart in a port- starboard direction, each thruster being oriented to generate a thrust force in a fore-aft direction perpendicular to the port-starboard direction; a vertical thruster which is oriented to generate a thrust force substantially perpendicular to the fore-aft and port- starboard directions; port, starboard and vertical ducts which contain the port, starboard and vertical thrusters respectively, each duct providing a channel for water to flow through its respective thruster; and a moving mass which can be moved relative to the thrusters in the fore-aft direction to control a pitch of the underwater vehicle.
Claims19
An underwater vehicle comprising:
- port and starboard thrusters spaced apart in a port-starboard direction, each thruster being oriented to generate a thrust force in a fore-aft direction perpendicular to the port-starboard direction;
- a vertical thruster which is oriented to generate a thrust force substantially perpendicular to the fore-aft and port-starboard directions;
- port, starboard and vertical ducts which contain the port, starboard and vertical thrusters, respectively, each duct providing a channel for water to flow through its respective thruster;
- and
- a moving mass which can be moved in the fore-aft direction to control a pitch of the underwater vehicle, wherein the moving mass comprises one or more batteries.
An underwater vehicle comprising:
- a nose and a tail at opposite ends of the underwater vehicle;
- port and starboard thrusters spaced apart in a port-starboard direction, each thruster being oriented to generate a thrust force in a fore-aft direction perpendicular to the port-starboard direction;
- a vertical thruster which is oriented to generate a thrust force substantially perpendicular to the fore-aft and port-starboard directions;
- and
- a moving mass which can be moved in the fore-aft direction to control a pitch of the underwater vehicle;
- wherein the underwater vehicle is configured to land on a seabed and the vertical thruster is arranged to control a pitch of the underwater vehicle when the underwater vehicle is on the seabed.
An underwater vehicle comprising:
- port and starboard thrusters spaced apart in a port-starboard direction, each of the port and starboard thrusters being oriented to generate a thrust force in a fore-aft direction perpendicular to the port-starboard direction;
- a vertical thruster which is oriented to generate a thrust force substantially perpendicular to the fore-aft and port-starboard directions;
- and
- a moving mass which can be moved in the fore-aft direction to control a pitch of the underwater vehicle;
- wherein the vertical thruster is operable to control a pitch of the underwater vehicle;
- and
- wherein the underwater vehicle has a centre of buoyancy and a centre of gravity, and the vertical thruster is positioned so that the thrust force generated by the vertical thruster is offset from the centre of buoyancy and the centre of gravity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.