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Interesting concept Sean, It's not really really really simple, so we shouldn't even think about doing it. ;) That reminds me of the wet sub Fabien Cousteau had built, that turns and swims by means of a flexible body powered by pneumatic rams. They had some serious design problems that I saw before they even used it in the open ocean, that I believe Fabien should of seen as well with his extensive diving back ground. They had no homing beacon, bad underwater communication systems, and not near enough emergence buoyancy in the interior. I do think the basic concept is good however. The SS ribs being connected with flexible Makrolon Hygard as a double spine, is interesting. "Sushi, as the mechanical monster is affectionately called by the shop crew, is a self-contained 14 foot long pneumatically powered vehicle that emulates the movement of a real Great White for propulsion. In other words, it really swims! The skeleton of the shark is made from mandrilly bent 2” steel roll-bar tubing for the ribs and bullet-resistant Sheffield MAKROLON HYGARD polycarbonate plastic for the spine and fins with a removable fiberglass head, allowing the driver to enter and exit the submarine. The entire body is covered with ¼ inch of Skin Flex, a latex product that is used mostly for special effects." http://www.epindustries.com/epi.html "The grandson of famous oceanographer and filmmaker Jacques Cousteau believes the best way to learn about sharks is to become one." http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/news/2005/04/67075 http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/multimedia/2005/04/67075?slide=1&slideView=10 Your resident possibility thinker ;)' Regards, Szybowski Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:10:47 -0600 From: cast55@telus.net To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org Subject: Snap roll. Re: RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST] one more design consideration The snap roll effect is discussed in Burcher and Rydill's book. Essentially, at any angle of attack other than zero, the foil shape of the conning tower fairing (necessary to eliminate drag) also creates lift. Thus, upon initiating a turn, the foil is presented to flow at an angle and the lift effect rolls the hull accordingly. I had always wondered if one could use a rotary joint on such a structure to keep it oriented in the direction of flow at all times. I don't really know what the practical issues are, though. (i.e. how many structures are actually housed within the fairing, and what is the space requirement?) As an aside, I recently had another read through Phil Nuytten's patent on the Newtsuit joint, and the concept got me thinking - extrapolating that idea to much larger cross sectional areas, it is theoretically possible to create a modular vehicle of jointed tubular hull construction that could reconfigure itself to assume a particular structural configuration depending on the mission requirements - I wonder if that could apply to surface / subsurface operation? -Sean On Aug 29, 2008, bottomgun@mindspring.com wrote:
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