Circumferential ring propulsors and control assemblies for manned or unmanned underwater vehicles
OwnerEric Bleickeninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A propulsor and control system for an underwater vehicle having annular fore and aft circumferential shrouds surrounding the hull. The fore and aft circumferential shrouds form respective fore and aft circumferential shroud gaps between the fore and aft circumferential shrouds and the hull. Fore and aft propulsor blades are situated substantially or completely within the fore and aft circumferential shroud gaps; the blades counter-rotate in one preferred embodiment. The fore or aft circumferential ring propulsors can have front control vanes located in front of the respective propulsors blade sets, and back control vanes located behind the respective propulsors to control the direction of the flow of water in order to maneuver the underwater vehicle.
Claims15
A propulsor system for an underwater vehicle having a hull, the system comprising:
- a plurality of circumferential shrouds;
- said plurality of circumferential shrouds having a fore-circumferential shroud and an aft-circumferential shroud;
- said fore-circumferential shroud forming a fore-circumferential shroud gap between the fore-circumferential shroud and the hull;
- said aft-circumferential shroud forming an aft-circumferential shroud gap between the aft-circumferential shroud and the hull;
- fore-propulsor blades within the fore-circumferential shroud gap between the fore-circumferential shroud and the hull;
- said fore-propulsor blades forming a fore-propulsor blade set;
- aft-propulsor blades within the aft-circumferential shroud gap between the aft-circumferential shroud and the hull;
- said aft-propulsor blades forming an aft-propulsor blade set;
- and
- aft-back control vanes located behind the aft-propulsor blades wherein the position of the aft-back-control vanes may be individually adjusted to direct the flow of water from the aft-propulsor blade set and control horizontal and vertical steering of the underwater vehicle, wherein said fore-propulsor blades and said aft-propulsor blades rotate in opposite directions when the underwater vehicle is moved in forward or reverse and in the same direction to move water in opposing directions to enable maneuvering of the underwater vehicle while hovering.
A propulsor system for an underwater vehicle having a hull, the system comprising:
- two shrouds joined to the hull of the underwater vehicle each forming an annular gap between the hull and the shrouds;
- two counter-rotating circumferential ring propulsors each with a set of blades, wherein the set of blades of one of the propulsors is positioned within one of the annular gaps formed by one of the shrouds and the set of blades of the other of the propulsors is positioned within the other of the annular gaps formed by the other of the shrouds, wherein the blades of the two propulsors are in a fixed position mounted on hubs;
- and
- two sets of individually adjustable control vanes, wherein each of the two sets of vanes is located in the annular gaps behind respective ones of the two set of propulsor blades directing the flow of water from the blade sets substantially at right angles to the hull of the underwater vehicle, wherein the set of blades of the one of the propulsors and the set of blades of the other of the propulsors rotate in opposite directions when the underwater vehicle is moved in forward or reverse and in the same direction to move water in opposing directions to enable maneuvering of the underwater vehicle while hovering.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.