氣壓式水下滑翔機製作

Abstract

目前通用的水下滑翔機所使用的浮力引擎，多是以螺桿推動氣囊的方式，控制水室的進/排水。本研究的氣壓式浮力引擎是利用高壓鋼瓶裝載液態二氧化碳，以導管先將高壓氣體導入緩衝室，再以電磁閥控制，最後將較低壓的氣體灌入氣囊，達到控制水室之進/排水目的。浮力引擎的作動，是以壓力感測器所測得的水深資料，配合自行製作的微控制器，驅動三個電磁閥的開關來完成。 此外，為避免因機體故障而無法回收。另以一獨立的微控制器，控制機體尾端之安全氣囊，氣囊會在設定的時間，自動充氣，使機體上浮至水面，方便回收作業。 機體製作完成後，分別在工科海洋系之試驗水槽與野外水域進行測試，結果與預期相符。

The principle of the traditional buoyancy engine used in the underwater glider, is to use a screw rod to push a bladder, so that the inflow/outflow of the water volume in the water chamber is controlled by the bladder volume change. In this paper, the design and test of a underwater glider with pressure type buoyancy engine is conducted. The pressure type buoyancy engine is consisted of a tank with high pressurized liquid CO2, and a balloon in a buoyancy control water chamber. Through the electronic control valves and piping design, the vaporized CO2 would flow in (or out )of the balloon so to push the water out (or in) of the water chamber, eventually increased (and decrease )the buoyancy force of the glider. The vertical lift /sink distance is monitored and controlled by a microprocessor and water depth pressure sensor to minimize the power consumption of the battery. In order to avoid any malfunction and for the sake of recycling, an airbag is connected at the tail of the glider, which is controlled by an independent micro-controller, so that the airbag would inflate at time preset in advance, enable the glider to resurface. A series of test in the towing tank and field test in the reservoir have been conducted to verify the feasibility of this concept. Testing result shows that the concept of the design is satisfied.