Date of Award

2021

Degree Type

Capstone Project

First Advisor

Dr. Bahram Nassersharif

Abstract

The U.S. Navy lacks the ability for reliable and consistent undersea vehicle recovery. During missions and tests concerning unmanned undersea vehicles (UUV) and or remote operated undersea vehicles (ROUV), the standard retrieval process for such vehicles involves an expensive, time consuming, and highly coordinated operation carried out by humans. Conventional retrieval methods usually involve a surface vessel crew, a team of highly trained-professional divers, and a dockside command crew to ensure that the entire operation is carried out safely and according to plan. Today, it is of particular interest to explore capabilities pertaining to the recovery of a cylindrical body into an outer tube in an underwater environment. More speci cally, it is very challenging to recover a UUV into the same launch tube from which it was deployed. The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport (NUWC DIVNPT) prompted University of Rhode Island Mechanical Engineering Honors Capstone Team 13H to explore the current state of undersea vehicle recovery. Through an extensive research and development period starting in the Fall of 2020 (and currently ongoing), Team 13H has pursued a remote operated undersea vehicle (ROUV) design solution with the capability to maneuver to a payload, grab it in its proprietary gripping system, and be recovered to an operator by a winch. The Hermes system is a ROUV messenger vehicle that may be housed and deployed externally from a submerged, host launching vehicle. This vehicle will be driven with an X-Box hand controller by a human pilot, and it incorporates a multitude of user-monitorable systems to maneuver, secure, and return a dummy payload (not capable of self-propulsion) to a host tube. In total, the design costs about 300 USD and features a novel gripping system, an air-controlled variable ballast system, a computer-augmented drive system, interchangeable parts, and simple maintenance procedures. This design solution will require far less human contribution during the vehicle recovery process than the typical methods already employed.

Comments

Team Name: Team 13H, Project Hermes

Sponsor: Naval Underwater Warfare Center (NUWC)

Sponsor Representatives: Ian Millspaugh

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