A non-volatile engine is a concept that includes technologies that allow a submarine to sail without having to climb to the surface. The concept usually excludes the use of nuclear energy ( NAPL ).
Four types have spread:
- engines with external heat supply ( Stirling ),
- closed cycle diesels
- closed cycle steam turbines
- power plants with electrochemical generators .
Different countries approached the creation of an air-independent energy installation in their own way:
- Sweden has taken the path of creating a plant based on the Stirling engine;
- The basis of the German installation was an electrochemical generator and intermetallic hydrogen storage
- the French created the MESMA (Module d'Energie Sous-Marine Autonome) installation based on a closed-loop turbine operation using ethanol and liquid oxygen
- CB “Rubin” in Russia has chosen an electrochemical generator ( Fuel cell ) [1] [2] as its direction in creating VNEU.
Content
- 1 Stirling engine
- 2 Russian development of anaerobic engine
- 3 References
- 4 notes
Stirling Engine
In the first half of the 1960s, naval directories pointed to the possibility of installing in the submarines of the Schörmen type manufactured by Sweden air - independent Stirling engines . However, neither the Schörmen, nor the Nakken and Westerjötland following them, received the said power plants. And only in 1988 the head submarine of the Nakken type was converted for Stirling engines. With them she went under water for more than 10 thousand hours. In other words, it was the Swedes who opened the era of auxiliary anaerobic propulsion systems in underwater shipbuilding. And if the Nakken is the first experimental ship of this subclass, the Gotland- type submarines became the first production boats with Stirling engines that allow them to stay under water continuously for up to 20 days. Currently, for the most part, the Swedish Navy's submarines are equipped with Stirling engines, and the Swedish shipbuilders have already worked out the technology of equipping submarines with these engines by inserting an additional compartment in which the new propulsion system is located.
In 2005-2007 the Gotland submarine was leased by the United States for use as an underwater adversary in exercises. The Swedish sailors have clearly shown their American counterparts how difficult the defense against modern non-nuclear submarines is.
Similar engines are also installed in the latest Japanese submarines of the Soryu type .
Since the non-volatile power plant requires a supply of liquid oxygen or hydrogen on board the submarine, and also because of the short range of the submarine course provided by the VNEU, there is a tendency for non-nuclear submarines to return to a traditional diesel-electric circuit using ultra-high lithium polymer batteries [3] [4] .
Russian development of an anaerobic engine
At the Army-2019 forum in June 2019, the General Director of the St. Petersburg Malachite Design Bureau, which is part of the USC , Vladimir Dorofeev said [5] that his design bureau is actively developing a fundamentally new non-volatile (anaerobic) closed-cycle gas turbine engine . The company revealed at the forum some details of the development and presented the project of the latest submarine under the code name Project P-750B , on which such an engine will be installed [5] [6] [7] .
According to the lead designer of Design Bureau Malachite Igor Karavaev, the new engine has two operating modes - surface and underwater. In surface mode, atmospheric air is used to operate the gas turbine unit. In the underwater, a liquid oxidizer is supplied from the Dewar vessels , and the gas mixture emitted by the engine turbine is frozen again, so the engine does not consume from the environment and does not emit anything into the environment. Only with the help of this installation the submarine P-750B develops an underwater speed of 10 knots or more [8] .
Links
Notes
- ↑ The Russian Federation is creating a fundamentally new engine for submarines - TsKB Rubin // RIA, 2011
- ↑ Non-nuclear submarines of the fifth generation Kalina will receive an anaerobic ( non-volatile ) power plant // 2016
- ↑ lenta.ru: France will build 12 submarines for Australia for $ 40 billion
- ↑ CAST Blog: France wins Australian submarine tender
- ↑ 1 2 Vladimir Dorofeev: “Malachite” can create a submarine with a gas turbine VNEU in 5-6 years . FleetProm. Date of treatment June 27, 2019.
- ↑ Alexander Frolov. In Russia create a submarine with an anaerobic engine (Rus.) (Neopr.) ? . PolitExpert. Date of treatment June 27, 2019.
- ↑ In Russia, they will create a submarine equipped with an anaerobic engine . Actual news. Date of treatment June 27, 2019.
- ↑ The Malachite talked about the closed-cycle gas turbine VNEU . FleetProm. Date of treatment June 27, 2019.