Collaborative Research: Pulsatile Jet Propulsion for Underwater Robots

提出了一种适用于小型水下机器人低速机动的新型脉动喷射推进方案，并对其进行了论证和表征。这种推进方案大致类似于鱿鱼和水母所使用的方案。通过首先优化脉动喷注致动器的设计和相关的致动概念来探索脉动喷注推进的潜力。其次，建立了车辆级流体动力学模型，以捕捉脉动射流与绕过车辆的一次流之间的相互作用。基于非线性平均的车辆反馈控制方案的先前发展适合于使用这种模型的这种技术。将脉动射流样机和控制方案集成到水下航行器样机中，并对其性能进行了表征。建议的推进方案运动部件很少，没有增加阻力的突出部件，体积相对较小。工科本科生主要参与本项目中提出的脉动喷气执行器和水下机器人原型的设计、制造和测试。这些活动为参与的学生提供了极好的实践工程体验。

A novel pulsatile jet propulsion scheme for low speed maneuvering of small underwater robots is developed, demonstrated, and characterized. This propulsion scheme is loosely analogous to that used by squid and jellyfish. The potential for pulsatile jet propulsion is explored by first optimizing the design of a pulsatile jet actuator and associated actuation concepts. Next, a vehicle-level fluid dynamical model is developed in order to capture the interaction of the pulsatile jet flows with the primary flow past the vehicle. Prior development in nonlinear averaging-based vehicle feedback control schemes is adapted to this technology using such models. The pulsatile jet prototypes and control scheme is integrated into a prototype underwater vehicle, whose performance is characterized. The suggested propulsion scheme has very few moving parts, has no protruding components that increase drag, and takes up relatively little volume.Undergraduate engineering students are heavily involved in the design, fabrication, and testing of the pulsatile jet actuators and underwater vehicle prototypes proposed in this project. These activities provide excellent hands-on engineering experiences for the participating students.