Patent Application
20060249067
The present invention relates to a submersible vehicle object ejection system and, more particularly, to a object ejection system that uses a flywheel driven boost pump to pressurize the object system ejection tubes.
Many submersible vehicles, such as military submarines, include one or more object ejection systems. An object ejection system may be used to eject various types of objects from the vehicle. Such objects may include, for example, sonar buoys, counter measure devices, and various types of weapons, such as torpedoes and/or missiles. A typical object ejection system that is used to eject weapons from a submersible vehicle includes one or more weapon ejection tubes, an impulse tank, a boost pump, and an air turbine.
A weapon may be launched from an ejection tube by fluidly communicating the ejection tube with an impulse tank by, for example, opening a slide valve on the ejection tube, and then pressurizing the impulse tank with fluid. In many ejection systems the impulse tank is pressurized by commanding a firing valve to the open position, which allows high pressure air to flow to the air turbine. The air turbine, upon receiving the flow of high pressure air, drives the boost pump, which draws fluid (e.g., seawater) from the environment surrounding the vehicle hull and discharges the fluid, at a higher pressure, into the impulse tank.
Although the ejection system described above is generally safe, reliable, and robust, it does suffer certain drawbacks. For example, the system includes numerous components, such as one or more high pressure air storage tanks, the firing valve, and the interconnecting piping. These components take up space within a submersible vehicle hull, and add to the overall vehicle weight. Moreover, because operation with a relatively quiet acoustic signature may be desirable, these components can be relatively costly to design, produce, and install, and can exhibit relatively high maintenance frequencies. One proposed solution to these drawbacks has been to use an electric motor to drive the boost pump. However, the size of the electric motor that is needed to meet system functional requirements can be relatively large and costly.
Hence, there is a need for an object ejection system that may be implemented with relatively fewer components than present pneumatic systems and/or takes up less space and/or reduces overall vehicle weight and/or is less relatively costly to design, produce, and install and/or has relatively low maintenance frequencies. The present invention addresses one or more of these needs.
The present invention provides an object ejection system that includes a flywheel driven fluid pump to pressurize the object ejection system ejection tubes.
In one embodiment, and by way of example only, a submersible vehicle object ejection system includes a fluid supply conduit, an impulse tank, a fluid pump, an energy storage flywheel, a motor, a control circuit, and a gear train. The fluid supply conduit has at least an inlet port coupled to a fluid source of a first pressure. The impulse tank is configured to receive fluid at a second pressure that is greater than the first pressure. The fluid pump is configured to receive a rotational drive force and is operable, upon receipt thereof, to pump fluid from the fluid source into the impulse tank at the second pressure. The energy storage flywheel is rotationally mounted and is adapted to receive rotational energy. The energy storage flywheel is additionally configured to store the received rotational energy and to supply the stored rotational energy. The motor is coupled to the energy storage flywheel and is configured, upon being electrically energized, to supply the rotational energy to the energy storage flywheel at a rotational speed. The control circuit is configured to selectively energize the motor and, upon energizing the motor, to control the rotational speed thereof. The gear train is coupled between the energy storage flywheel and the fluid pump, and is configured to receive the stored rotational energy supplied by the energy storage flywheel and, in response, supply the rotational drive force to the fluid pump.
Other independent features and advantages of the preferred object ejection system will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.
The following detailed description of the invention is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the invention or the application and uses of the invention. Furthermore, there is no intention to be bound by any theory presented in the preceding background of the invention or the following detailed description of the invention.
Referring now to
The fluid inlets 122 extend through the ejection tubes 102 and, depending on the position of the respective slide valves 124, fluidly communicate the impulse tank 104 to the inner volume 128 of the ejection tubes 102. In particular, the slide valves 124 are disposed between the fluid inlets 122 of the associated ejection tubes 102 and the impulse tank 104, and are moveable between an open position, in which the impulse tank 104 is fluidly communicated to the ejection tube inner volume 128, and a closed position, in which the impulse tank 104 is fluidly isolated from the ejection tube inner volume 128.
The impulse tank 104 is used to communicate pressurized fluid, such as water, to an ejection tube 102 that has its slide valve 124 open. The pressurized fluid in the impulse tank 104 is used to eject the weapons 126 from the ejection tubes 102. The pressurized fluid is supplied to the impulse tank 104 via the fluid pump 106. More specifically, at least in the depicted embodiment, the fluid pump 106 includes a fluid inlet 136 in fluid communication with a fluid supply conduit 138, and a fluid outlet 142 in fluid communication with the impulse tank 104. The fluid supply conduit 138 includes a fluid inlet valve 144 that, when open, allows fluid from the surrounding environment 134 to enter into the fluid supply conduit 138. The fluid pump 106, when driven, pumps fluid that enters the fluid supply conduit 138 into the impulse tank 104 at an increased pressure. The pressurized fluid supplied to the impulse tank 104 is used to eject the weapon 126 from a selected ejection tube 102.
The fluid pump 106 is driven by the energy storage flywheel 108, which is rotationally mounted within a housing 146. The energy storage flywheel 108, as is generally known, is a mechanical battery that is configured to selectively store and supply rotational mechanical energy. In the depicted embodiment, the motor 112, which is also preferably mounted within the housing 146, is used to maintain the so-called charge of the energy storage flywheel 108. More specifically, a control circuit 148, which preferably is mounted either on or near the housing 146, determines the rotational speed of the energy storage flywheel 108 and, if the control circuit 148 determines that the energy storage flywheel 108 is rotating below a predetermined rotational speed, the control circuit 148 energizes the motor 112. In response, the motor 112 supplies rotational energy to the energy storage flywheel 108, spinning the energy storage flywheel 108 up to a predetermined rotational speed. Once the control circuit 148 determines that the energy storage flywheel 108 is rotating at the predetermined rotational speed, the control circuit 148 de-energizes the motor 112. It will be appreciated that the control circuit 148 additionally implements a suitable control law that controls the acceleration rate of the motor 112, and thus the acceleration rate/charging rate energy storage flywheel 108.
The object ejection system 100 is preferably controlled from a central control panel 150, such as a fire control panel. The fire control panel 150 may be located within the same compartment as the other portions of the object ejection system 100 or in a different compartment or space within the vehicle hull 114. For example, in many military submarine applications the fire control panel 150 may be located within the control space (not shown). No matter its physical location, it will be appreciated that the fire control panel 150 includes various controls and man-machine interfaces that allow an operator to remotely control, for example, the position of the ejection tube muzzle doors 118, the slide valves 124, and fluid inlet valve 144. The fire control panel 150 may also be configured to monitor and/or control the operations of the energy storage flywheel 108, the motor 112, and the control circuit 148.
Having provided a general description of the object ejection system 100, a more detailed description of a particular physical implementation thereof will now be provided. In doing so, reference should now be made to
As
A speed sensor 208, which is also disposed within the housing 146, is configured to sense the rotational speed (or charge state) of the energy storage flywheel 108. The speed sensor 208 in turn supplies a speed signal 212 to the control circuit 148 that is representative of flywheel rotational speed. The control circuit 148 preferably uses this speed signal 212 to determine the rotational speed of the energy storage flywheel 108 and, based on the determined speed, whether to energize or de-energize the motor 112. It will be appreciated that the speed sensor 208 may be implemented as any one of numerous types of rotational speed sensors now known or developed in the future, including for example, an optical sensor, a Hall effect sensor, a potentiometer, and a resolver.
In addition to each of the previously described components, the ejection system 100 further includes a gear train 214 and a clutch 216. The gear train 214, which may be implemented using any one of numerous types of gear arrangements, is preferably configured as a step-down gear train and is coupled to the flywheel shaft 206. As such, it receives a rotational drive force from the energy storage flywheel 108 at first rotational speed, and supplies the rotational drive force to the pump 106, via the clutch 216, at a second, lower rotational speed.
The clutch 216 is disposed between the gear train 214 and the fluid pump input shaft 204 and selectively couples the gear train 214 to, and decouples the gear train 214 from, the fluid pump input shaft 204. To do so, the clutch 216 is coupled to receive clutch engage and clutch disengage commands from, for example, the fire control panel 150 (not shown in
For completeness,
In addition to lubricating various bearing assemblies 218 and other equipment, in an alternative embodiment the lubricant system 250 is also used to control the operation of a torque converter. More specifically, and with reference now to
The alternate system 100 includes the same components and systems as those shown in
The object ejection system 100 described herein uses an energy storage flywheel 108 to drive the fluid pump 106 that is used to supply pressurized fluid to the impulse tank 104. The system 100 includes fewer components than currently used systems that rely on pressurized air as the energy source for the fluid pump, the components that are used take up less space, and are maintained less frequently, as compared to currently used components, and are in many instances relatively quieter during operation.
While the invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt to a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.
