Feasibility analysis of a wave powered autonomous underwater vehicle

Abstract

An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) powered by renewable energy would enable it to extend endurance and forward presence with no logistics tail for fuel. A wave powered concept AUV is proposed and analyzed for this purpose. The AUV is in a torpedo shape and employs a fully hull-encapsulated mass-spring-damper system as its power take-off (PTO) unit. While in the recharging mode, the AUV surfaces and converts wave energy for electricity. Considering the AUV of a common size, our analysis indicates that resonance of the AUV and/or its PTO, to be excited by ocean waves, becomes impossible in typical ocean conditions. Then by making the AUV almost fully submerged to eliminate its intrinsic resonant nature and by applying some realistic constraints, the AUV’s power generation capability without resonance is characterized. Our simulation results show that the AUV is still capable of generating power at a decent level in a wide range of the wave frequency upon optimization. Some guiding principles have been established for AUV design of this type.

Keywords

• Autonomous underwater vehicle
• AUV
• Wave energy converter
• WEC
• Mass-spring-damper
• Non-resonant