Design of a New Wire Flying Vehicle for Deep Water Profiling

PI提议完成一项设计可行性研究和一个新的潜水器概念的比例模型测试阶段，以便在与船舶拖曳包结合使用时能够在深海进行更高分辨率的剖面测量。拟议的车辆将滑动上下拖线在一个可控的方式使用的升力产生的翼箔。翼型将提供一种新颖的低功率推进方法，该方法利用金属丝在水中移动的自由流速度。在全尺寸车辆中，由小型微处理器、深度传感器和电动机致动器组成的电池供电的电子组件将以闭环方式控制翼片角度，以实现期望的深度或深度轮廓。飞行器内的有效载荷舱将容纳各种海洋学水柱传感器。 这样的车辆将提供的主要好处有两个方面。对这一新概念的初步评估表明，钢丝飞行器可以在牵引配置的广泛操作范围内实现一比一或更大的滑翔比。这将在深水中提供比目前在浅水中的波浪形拖曳体更大的水平分辨率。此外，该系统将与任何拖曳式仪器包一起使用，并产生无法单独由拖曳体获得的补充数据集。 更广泛的影响拟议的继续发展有线飞行剖面仪可能有利于整个海洋学的许多不同学科，而不受地理区域的影响。最明显的影响可能是加深对深海混合和小特征的了解，例如在物质输送中发挥重要作用的次中尺度涡旋。这些影响将通过改善对混合和小尺度动力学的理解，直接和显著地影响我们运行全球模型的能力，包括用于预测气候变化影响的模型。这本身就具有广泛和重大的社会效益。外联活动没有具体提及，但在技术开发项目的范围内，无论如何都可能很困难。一名研究生和几名本科生将获得工程和使用海洋仪器的经验。

The PIs propose to complete a design feasibility study and the scale model testing phase for a new vehicle concept to enable higher resolution profiling in the deep ocean when used in conjunction with a ship-towed package. The proposed vehicle will slide up and down a towed wire in a controlled manner using the lift created by wing foils. Wing foils will provide a novel low power method of propulsion that utilizes the free stream velocity of the wire moving through the water. In the full size vehicle a battery powered electronics package consisting of a small microprocessor, depth sensor and motor actuator will control the foil angle in a closed loop fashion to achieve a desired depth or depth profile. A payload bay within the vehicle will accommodate a variety of oceanographic water column sensors. The main benefits such a vehicle will provide are two fold. Preliminary evaluation of this new concept suggests the wire flying vehicle could achieve glide ratios of one-to-one or greater over a wide operating range of tow configurations. This would provide greater horizontal resolution in deep water than is currently possible with undulated towed bodies in shallow water. Additionally, this system would be used in conjunction with any towed instrument package and produce a complementary data set that could not be obtained by the tow body alone. Broader ImpactsThe proposed continued development of a wire flying profiler can potentially benefit many different disciplines throughout oceanography, independently of geographical area. The most tangible impacts are likely to be increased understanding of deep ocean mixing and of small features such as submesoscale eddies that can play major roles in material transport. These impacts will directly and significantly impact, through improved understanding of mixing and small-scale dynamics, our ability to run global models including those used for prediction of climate change impacts. This in itself comprises a broad and significant societal benefit. Outreach activities are not specifically mentioned but are likely, in any case, to be difficult within the context of a technological development project. One graduate student, and several undergraduate students, will gain experience in engineering and use of oceanographic instrumentation.