Pressure Tolerant Energy Converter for Deep Sea Applications

该项目的目的是通过降低系统复杂性来增强深海系统的稳健性和紧凑性。为了达到500米甚至更深的潜水水平，传统的带耐压壳的系统达到了极限。必须付出巨大的努力才能使这些系统具备深海能力。重压力船体不断增加的船体厚度需要大体积的升降体来补偿重量。组装、开发和维护成本呈爆炸式增长。系统的规模缩小是不可想象的。在应用项目范围内，应开展通过开发软材料耐压功能单元来降低复杂性领域的基础研究。将环境压力均匀地分布在软质封装的单元上，从而可以忽略耐压船体。对于深海应用，软材料的所有固有特性都可以得到积极的利用。由于水下盛行的浮力，即使是承重结构也可以由软材料制成。举例来说，深海流体运输系统将被开发为一个在很大程度上灵活的功能单元。这种软材料旨在用作嵌入其中的部件的多功能压力外壳、作为防腐、作为支撑结构和实现连接。软能量转换器也应该集成在软载体材料中。除了多功能材料的使用外，还使用软材料，使得系统开发具有高度的功能集成度，从而增加了健壮性和紧凑性。

The aim of the project is the enhancement of robustness and compactness of deep sea systems through reduction of system complexity. To reach diving levels of 500 meters or even deeper, conventional systems with pressure hulls reach their limits. An enormous effort has to be taken to grand these systems to be deep sea capable. Rising hull thicknesses of the heavy pressure hulls demand large volume lifting bodies for weight compensation. Assembly-, development- and maintenance costs explode. A size reduction of the systems is not imaginable. Within the scope of the applied project fundamental research in the field of complexity reduction through the development of pressure tolerant functional units made out of soft materials should be done. The ambient pressure will be distributed uniformly on the soft material encapsulated units, so that a pressure hull can be neglected. Regarding a deep-sea application all inherent characteristics of soft materials can be used positively. Due to the underwater prevailing buoyancy even the load-bearing structure can be made of soft material. By way of example, a fluid transport system for the deep sea is to be developed as a largely flexible functional unit. The soft material is intended to be used multifunctional as a pressure housing for the components embedded therein, as a corrosion protection, as a supporting structure and for the realization of joints. Soft energy converters should also be integrated in the soft carrier material. The use of soft material in addition to multifunctional material use allows a system development with high functional integration, which leads to an increase in robustness and compactness.