Overview of international deep submersible technology development: deep depth, multi-function, intelligent

At present, there are more than 200 manned submersibles in the world, and some have a maximum working depth of 6000m, which is mainly used for offshore oil and gas development. The depth of more than 6000m shows the technical ability of the international deep submersible to develop to a large depth. For example, the "Deep Sea-6500" deep submersible made in Japan in 1989 is 9.5m long and weighs 25t. It can be used by 3 passengers and has a working water depth of 6500m. The continuous operation time under water is more than 6h. The submersible is equipped with the latest acoustic imaging sonar systems, cameras, video recorders, television systems, robots and various automatic measuring instruments. The direction of development is deep, unmanned or mixed development. Due to the emergence of unmanned remotely operated submersibles, instead of the work of many divers, the development of divers' underwater access submersibles has been reduced. Currently only the United States, Japan, France and Russia have deep-sea manned submersibles.

Since the 1970s and 1980s, the need for offshore diving in the offshore oil and gas industry has been rapidly developed. Unmanned remotely operated submersibles include both cabled and cableless. At the beginning of the 1980s, there were more than 400 unmanned remote-controlled submersibles in the world, of which more than 90% were used in the offshore oil industry. By the end of the 1980s, the number had soared to 958, of which more than 800 were remotely controlled submersibles. More than half of it is directly used for offshore oil and gas use. At present, there are more than 1000 unmanned remotely operated submersibles, including more than 10 of the 6000m class, and have now developed into the third generation of intelligent deep submersibles.

In addition, manned and unmanned submersibles have also been developed, and 32 have been developed, 28 of which are used for industrial services. In addition, since the 1990s, with the development of microelectronics, high-speed digital computers, artificial intelligence technology, small navigation technology, command and control hardware and Other technologies, unmanned autonomous submersibles have developed rapidly. According to incomplete statistics, countries have developed and There are more than 30 unmanned autonomous submersibles used, of which more than 10 are for industrial use, and others are used for military and scientific research.

Development and development of unmanned cable submersibles (underwater robots) In 1987, the Japan Maritime Science and Technology Center (JMST) successfully researched the 3,300-meter deep-sea unmanned cable remote-controlled submersible "Haicang 3K". The equipment can be used to investigate the scheduled diving points before the manned diving, and can also be used for submarine ambulance. Two sets of power devices are arranged in the front, back, up and down, and left and right directions in the design, which can basically meet the needs of collecting samples in the deep sea. In the early 1990s, the technical center cooperated with the “Deep Sea 6500” manned submersible to carry out deep-sea survey operations, and successfully built a 10,000-meter unmanned remote-controlled submersible. The submersible can carry out deep-sea surveys for a long time, and the diving depth reaches 11,000 meters, which is the highest in the world. Currently, Japan is implementing a large-scale plan that includes the development of advanced unmanned remotely operated vehicles. This unmanned cable submersible system will have new developments and breakthroughs in remote control operations, acoustic imaging, underwater telemetry omnidirectional thrusters, seawater transmission systems, ceramic application technology, underwater navigation positioning and control.

Western European countries have also maintained an obvious advantage in advanced development in terms of unmanned cable diving technology. According to the European Eureka plan, the United Kingdom and Italy jointly developed an unmanned remotely operated submersible that can work continuously for 250 hours at a depth of 6,000 meters. In accordance with the Eureka EU-191 plan, two unmanned remotely operated submersibles were also built, one for cabled submersibles, mainly for underwater inspection and maintenance; the other for unmanned cableless submersibles, mainly for Underwater measurement. The diving project was completed by 17 institutions in the UK, Italy, Denmark and other countries. The unique technical feature of the "Little Jason" cabled submersible developed by British scientists is that it uses computer control and communicates the connection between the submersible and the mother ship via fiber optics. The mother ship is equipped with four special computers for processing the information obtained by the seabed camera, processing the data for monitoring changes in the marine environment, processing the information on changes in the sea surface environment, and processing other relevant technical data transmitted by the submersible. The mother ship sorts all the information obtained and sends it to the laboratory of the California Grove Institute in the microwave and stores it in the database.

Development and development of an unmanned cableless submersible (underwater intelligent robot) The "Nerve Whale" unmanned cableless submersible built by the French National Marine Development Center in 1980 was put into use, with a maximum depth of 6,000 meters, mainly used for Environmental investigations required for deep seabed and deep-sea mineral resources exploration and platform setting, monitoring of pipeline laying, and installation of fixed sonar arrays on the seabed, seabed observation, and safety of guardian salvage personnel. The "killer whale" submersible has carried out more than 130 deep diving operations, and completed major tasks such as the survey of the Pacific Ocean bottom manganese tuberculosis, the investigation of the submarine canyon, the investigation of the Pacific and Mediterranean submarine cable accidents, and the investigation of the mid-ocean ridge. In 1987, the French National Marine Development Center cooperated with a company to build the “Elite” acoustic remote control submersible for complex operations such as underwater drilling machine inspection, subsea oil well equipment installation, oil Pipe auxiliary installation, and anchor cable reinforcement. . This acoustic remote-controlled submersible is much more intelligent than the Orca.

In 1988, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the US Department of Defense worked with a research organization to invest $23.6 million to develop two unmanned cableless submersibles. In 1990, the unmanned cableless submersible was successfully developed and named "UUV". This submersible weighs 6.8 tons and has excellent performance. The maximum speed is 10 knots, which can be accelerated from 0 to 10 knots in 44 seconds. When the speed is greater than 3 knots, the navigation depth is controlled at ±1 m and the navigation accuracy is about 0.2 knots. / hour, the submersible power is silver and zinc batteries. These technical conditions contribute to high levels of deep sea research. In addition, the United States and Canada cooperated in the early 1990s to develop an unmanned cableless submersible that can pass through the Arctic ice. In early 1998, Japan successfully developed a cable-free unmanned deep submersible for observation under the Arctic Ocean ice layer with a maximum depth of 3000m.

In recent years, the technology of autonomous submersibles for military use has developed rapidly.
The US Navy has launched autonomous snorkeling such as "Marine Explorer", "Manta", "Odyssey" III, CETUSII, "Remote Environmental Monitoring Unit System" (REMUS), and "Battlefield Prepared Autonomous Submersible" (BPAUV). After the project, the following new autonomous submersibles are also being studied: mainly for the support and attack of special operations forces, anti-mine mines, submarine tracking in coastal areas, and “reconstruction of unmanned underwater vehicles” for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions (MRUUV) It is mainly used to measure parameters such as ocean salinity and temperature. It is designed to be a Sloan Slider autonomous submersible with a cruising time of 5 years and a range of 4000Km. It is mainly used for collecting marine physical, chemical and bio-optical data. The “Sea Slider” autonomous submersible with a maximum depth of 1000m and a cruising 6000Km; mainly used for performing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as anti-mine and shallow water anti-submarine missions, with a displacement of about 5t, planned to equip SSGN missile submarines, “Virginia” Level-attack nuclear submarines and large-capacity submersible submersibles for surface submarines; and "Hell Judge" autonomous submersibles, "Hippo" from

Germany's DeepC autonomous submersible began to develop in 2001, and the prototype deep water test was carried out at the end of 2003, and it was put into operation in 2007. DeepC weighs 2000kg, the maximum dive depth is 4000m, the cruising time is 60h, the range is 400Km, and the speed is 60 knots. It can be deployed from ships or helicopters.

France's Alister self-propelled submersible is a dual-use long-haul autonomous submersible for military and civilian use. It uses a lithium-ion battery and started the sea test in 2002. The Alister design has two models, one weighing 600kg and being able to be underwater at 300m. Work; the other weighs 1100kg and can work at 3000m underwater.

In recent years, Norway has launched three kinds of independent submersibles, HUGIN1, HUGIN1000 and HUGIN3000. They are powered by batteries and can be controlled by surface ships through sound monitoring equipment or by using built-in control systems and intelligence equipment.

In summary, the development trend of remote-controlled submersibles is that large-depth cable (optical cable) deep submersibles are still the mainstream. This equipment is the most necessary and practical equipment for detecting tens of thousands of square kilometers of seabed. First, the water depth is generally above 6000 meters; second, the control system uses large-capacity computers for data processing and digital control; third, the robot on the submersible uses a multi-function, force feedback monitoring system; fourth, increases the number of propellers. With power to improve its ability to withstand top operations and maneuverability.

At present, civil large-depth cableless submersibles are still in the research and trial stage, and there are still some key technical issues to be resolved. For example, if the range of motion is within the radius of 250-5000 km, it is necessary to solve the power source that can guarantee long-term work. Foreign countries are exploring the use of fuel cells, small nuclear reactors, etc.; for control and information processing systems, image recognition is required. , artificial intelligence technology, large-capacity knowledge base system, as well as the ability to improve information processing and sophisticated navigation and positioning, etc., to break through in high-end sound image transmission technology and other high-tech. But in the long run, it is the direction of development, and the trend is to develop remotely and intelligently.

In short, foreign cable-equipped ROV technology has developed quite maturely, and the key to developing AUV is to solve energy problems.

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