Unmanned underwater vehicle docking station coupling system and method
AssigneeHoneywell International Inc.
InventorsPaul T. Wingett, Sharon K. Brault, Calvin C. Potter
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A docking station for an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) includes a tether control system to minimize movement of the docking station when the UUV is docking therein. The docking station is a submerged station that is tethered to a floating structure via a tether line. The tether control system selectively loosens and tightens the tether line during UUV docking, to thereby minimize movement of the docking station during UUV docking operations.
Claims24
A docking system for an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), comprising:
- a housing having one or more UUV docking ports formed therein, the UUV docking ports configured to receive one or more UUVs;
- a spool mounted within the housing and movable in a deploy direction and a stow direction;
- a tether line at least partially wound on the spool and configured to couple to a structure that floats on a surface of a body of water, to thereby anchor the housing to the structure;
- a lock control circuit configured to selectively supply one or more lock command signals;
- and
- a spool lock coupled to receive the lock command signals and operable, in response thereto, to move between (i) a locked position, in which the spool lock engages the spool and prevents movement thereof in at least the deploy direction, and (ii) an unlocked position, in which the spool lock disengages the spool and allows movement thereof in both the stow and deploy directions.
A tether line control system for an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) docking station, comprising:
- a spool adapted to mount within the docking station and movable in a deploy direction and a stow direction;
- a tether line at least partially wound on the spool and configured to couple to a structure that floats on the surface of the body of water, to thereby anchor the docking station to the structure;
- a lock control circuit configured to selectively supply one or more lock command signals;
- and
- a spool lock coupled to receive the lock command signals and operable, in response thereto, to move between (i) a locked position, in which the spool lock engages the spool and prevents movement thereof in at least the deploy direction, and (ii) an unlocked position, in which the spool lock disengages the spool and allows movement thereof in both the stow and deploy directions.
A method of operating a submerged docking station for an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), comprising the steps of:
- coupling the docking station to a surface buoy via a tether line;
- determining a docking status of the UUV;
- and
- selectively loosening and tightening the tether line during the docking of the UUV and in response to the determined docking status.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.