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Solar-Powered Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Posted by timothy on from the seanet dept.

sunhou writes "A couple of months ago, researchers tested a solar-powered autonomous underwater vehicle (SAUV) at RPI's Darrin Fresh Water Institute. (More pictures and links to info available at the Autonomous Undersea Systems Institute.) Current autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) need to be taken out of the water often to have their batteries recharged. The goal is to have groups of cooperating SAUVs loaded with sensors and networking equipment deployed on long-term monitoring missions. Watch out Sky-Net, here comes Sea-Net! (See also the recent story about The Argo Project.)"

6 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. There missions must not go very deep. by andywebz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I guess all of their missions and exploration will be very close to the surface. Unless there is some underwater solar energy source I'm unaware of.

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    1. Re:There missions must not go very deep. by TooMuchEspressoGuy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No one's saying that it has to remain hundreds of feet below the waves at all times. They could easily program the vehicle to surface, recharge itself via solar energy, and go back down again.

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    2. Re:There missions must not go very deep. by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It is still pretty slow. Even at the surface, solar power isn't very efficient in terms of cost or energy conversion, and below water, it takes a LOT of power to move about. Cheaper than replacing batteries manually? I suppose it would be. It would be good for very long term projects, I suppose.

    3. Re:There missions must not go very deep. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      There is an underwater energy source, but it's not solar. More like thermo. Perhaps they should become hybrids and convert heat into energy.

  2. Re:Perhaps someone should tell them by Capt'n+Hector · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just as dolphins and whales need to go to the surface once in a while to breathe, this thing probably can dive deep, but needs to surface every once in a while to recharge.

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  3. Re:Nuclear Energy! by koick · · Score: 2, Insightful

    As a scientist who has used an AUV in the Antarctic, I can assure you we would not want to mess with the bureaucracy/logistics of nuclear power. Some big battery packs and no demands for the vehicle to move fast are all one needs really to collect some very interesting sub-surface data.