Design of Novel Shaftless Pump-Jet Propulsor for Multi-Purpose Long-Range and High-Speed Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

TLDR

Autonomous underwater vehicles offer long endurance, small size, and cost‑effective operation, making them essential for navies, research, resource exploration, and search‑and‑rescue, especially after incidents like MH370 and QZ8501 heightened demand for high‑performance SAR equipment. The study aims to extend range and reduce search time for next‑generation SAR AUVs. A seawater‑cooled, high‑power density, magnetically slotless permanent‑magnet brushless motor is integrated with a pump‑jet impeller to create a shaftless pump‑jet propulsor. When applied to the Naval University of Engineering series AUV, the shaftless pump‑jet propulsion delivers excellent performance as a SAR platform.

Abstract

Owning to its extremely long endurance, small size, cost-effective employment, easy, and fast transported properties, the merits of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) exceed those of manned underwater vehicles. Therefore, it has become an indispensable member in navies throughout the world, as well as with oceanographic research, commercial resource explorations, and especially the underwater search and rescue (SAR) sectors. Up to date, the tragic MH370 and QZ8501 flight incidents have dramatically increasing the awareness of high-performance SAR equipment, which in turn will stimulate the states party to the incident to urgently upgrade their shallow- and deep-sea SAR equipment. To extend the range (endurance) and shorter the searching period for the next generation SAR AUV, a sea water cooled high-power density magnetically slotless permanent magnet brushless motor is proposed and integrated with pump-jet's impeller to achieve designated shaftless pump-jet propulsor. In this paper, the developed shaftless pump-jet propulsion system is applied in Naval University of Engineering series multi-purpose long-range and high-speed deep-sea AUV, which could provide excellent performance as a SAR platform.