[PSUBS-MAILIST] Thrusters, Air & Diesel Musings

[Joe Perkel]

I'm slipping, possibly because of the long hiatus I took from the PSUB community. Below is an excerpt from Woods Hole on Alvin's propulsion.<br/><br/><br/>Propulsion System<br/>Maneuvering of the submersible is accomplished with six electric thrusters. Three thrusters on the stern provide forward/reverse motion, two thrusters mounted amidships provide vertical motion and a final thruster mounted athwartships in the stern turns the submersible about an axis just aft of the sphere center line. Two of the aft-mounted thrusters can be rotated downward to provide additional vertical thrust at the expense of fore/aft thrust and some pitching. Each thruster provides up to 150 pounds of thrust. The battery power consumed by the propulsion system is a strong function of the submersible’s speed; the greatest range and endurance (bottom time) will be achieved by moving slowly (1.5 km/hr (0.8 kts) or less). <br/><br/>The pilot has various means to control the
 thrusters, the most commonly used being a joystick to effect fore/aft, vertical and turning motions. The submersible has only a limited ability to move sideways without turning. A “heading hold” autopilot is available to maintain a fixed heading under the control of Alvin’s gyrocompass.<br/><br/>Sent from Yahoo! Mail for iPad
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.whoweb.com/pipermail/personal_submersibles/attachments/20131013/253d9923/attachment-0001.html>