The present invention relates to retrieval of unmanned vehicles from a body of water.
Systems or methods currently provide for retrieval of floating objects or vehicles such as small boats from a body of seawater, involving use of a crane on a retrieval ship from which an attachment device, such as a hook, is lowered into engagement with the floating object to life it from the body of seawater.
Current retrieval systems involve personnel controlled hook attachment to and operator controlled maneuvering of the floating object to be retrieved such as a small boat, in an effort to reduce substantial movement of the floating object relative to the retrieval ship under high sea states caused by sea waves and winds. Such retrieval systems frequently exhibit difficulties in performance of their retrieval functions, which are rendered slow and inefficient.
It is therefore an important object of the present invention to provide a system for retrieval of small unmanned vehicles from seawater onto the deck of a retrieval ship in a more simple and efficient manner. Toward those ends, the unmanned sea vehicle to be retrieved has a storage canister installed thereon within which a net assembly is stored in a deflated condition connected to a rope or cable lanyard in a folded condition and connected to a gas generator. Such unmanned sea vehicle undergoes retrieval from a location, either afloat on the seawater or submerged therein. Retrieval is initiated by inflation of the net assembly with pressurized gas from the gas generator causing ejection to the net assembly from the storage canister a substantial distance determined by the length of the unfolding lanyard, sufficient to accommodate engagement of the expanded net assembly when afloat on the body of seawater by a grappling hook selectively dropped thereon from a retrieval ship or helicopter. The net assembly is then lifted from the seawater through the grappling hook with the sea vehicle to be retrieved suspended therebelow by its attachment thereto through the lanyard, for transfer onto the deck of the retrieval ship.
A more complete appreciation of the invention and many of its attendant advantages will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein:
Referring now to the drawing in detail,
The net assembly 16 includes an outer tube ring 22 attached to the lanyard 18. Such ring 22 is formed from a tube inflated to a diameter (d) of 6–12 inches for example so as to extend into its overall ring shape of approximately 20 to 30 feet in length (l) as shown in
The lanyard 18 is long enough to allow the inflated net assembly 16 to float on the surface of the body of seawater 12 spaced from the unmanned vehicle 10 with clearance as shown in
According to another embodiment as illustrated in
It will therefore be apparent from the foregoing description that the floating unmanned vehicle 10 or the underwater vehicle 10′ may be retrieved from the body of seawater 12 in low or high sea states, by lowering of the grappling hook 26 onto a relatively large area of the netting 24 when the net assembly 16 is deployed without effecting attachments after such deployment of the net assembly 16 in its inflated condition.
Obviously, other modifications and variations of the present invention may be possible in light of the foregoing teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.
The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefore.
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5374211 | Imazato | Dec 1994 | A |
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