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鲁棒性和紧凑性。为了达到500米甚至更深的潜水高度，传统的压力壳系统达到了极限。必须付出巨大的努力才能使这些系统能够在深海中工作。随着船体厚度的增加，高压船体需要大体积的提升体来补偿重量。装配、开发和维护成本激增。缩小系统的尺寸是不可想象的。在应用项目范围内，通过开发由软材料制成的耐压功能单元来降低复杂性领域的基础研究应进行。环境压力将均匀地分布在软质材料封装单元上，因此可以忽略压力外壳。对于深海应用，软质材料的所有固有特性都可以积极地利用。由于水下的普遍浮力，甚至承重结构也可以由柔软的材料制成。例如，深海流体输送系统将被开发为一个具有很大灵活性的功能单元。软质材料是多功能的，作为嵌入其中的组件的压力外壳，作为腐蚀保护，作为支撑结构和实现连接。软能量转换器也应集成在软载体材料中。除了使用多功能材料外，还使用软材料，这使得系统开发具有高功能集成，从而增加了坚固性和紧凑性。

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.