Hi Myles.
You wouldn't necessarily have to install the piping
at the BOTTOM of the ballast tank. You could install it at the top of the tank
too.
Whether you put air into the ballast tank from its
bottom or its top wouldn't make any difference, the air would seek the top of
the tank
and push the water out the bottom since as the
air collects in the top the water volume has to lower presumably out the bottom.
I
would install the piping so there were no pipes or
valves sticking out on the bottom of the ballast tank that might be hit by the
ocean
bottom if you have no guards of any kind below the
ballast tank. You could use an electrically operated valve and
route the wiring
to the tower to work the valves. But in case
the circuit failed, you would want a redundant mechanical
backup located in the sub hull if not in the tower
and just use the primary electrical wired valve
most of the time in the tower unless you had a malfunction.
The water will only seek its own level (level of ocean for instance) and that means unless it
is under pressure it should not travel up the
ballast tank pipe to the tower on it own.
It would only travel up from the ballast tank
until it hit the same level the ocean water was at for
example and wouldn't make it to the tower. Simply
because your ballast tank is under water and that puts a little pressure on the
ballast
tank pipe for the water to travel upward, as soon
as that water reaches the level of the water your sub is in, it will stop rising
because it has
reached the surrounding water's level. It's like a
siphon hose. As long as you keep the hose down the water will flow out, as soon
as you raise
the hose to the level of the water you are
siphoning it will stop flowing. You can gain control of the valve to let the
water in either by a emergency manual
valve routed to the hull interior or by your
primary electrically wired valve located in the tower. Hopefully you will never
have to use the manual valve
but it would be there if you needed it, located in
the hull via a hull penetration close to the ballast tank.
I'm not totally sure I am understanding
what you were asking according to the way I
was reading it, but I discerned what I thought you were asking as
best I could. I hope this may have helped
you.
But check out what I say with others. I
sometimes miss things and I don't have any proper credentials. Lol.
Bill Akins. (As suggested, the below has been
included by my name. At least this once. Lol.
Psubs superior officer credibility and credentials
review for Akins, wetsub mechanic, wannabe pilot.
Psubs CREDENTIALS FOR CREDIBILITY.... Currently
rebuilding/modifying a former working movie wetsub. Certified Diver, former
aircraft pilot,
ex marine, inventor, patent holder in the firearms field U.S. patent #
6,101,918
Psubs credentials and credibility rating (Should we
listen to this guy at all?) Rated perhaps a 5 out of possible
10.
Psubs current ranking.....Enlisted man.
Diver/Mechanic. Training towards wetsub pilot
officer rating.
Wetsub mechanic Akins, age 52, shows good
morale and a willingness to learn. Sometimes makes mistakes, but does
have a good general knowledge of subs from his own self taught readings and his father's (Harold L. Akins) teachings who was a distinguished WW2 submariner on the Rasher SS269 during WW2 http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08269.htm Also see...( Sasgen, Peter T. RED SCORPION USNI 1995 The War Patrols of USS Rasher. Rasher SS-269 was one of the top submarines of World War II. Among the 190 subs in the Pacific that saw combat, she ranked second in tonnage (99,901) and ninth in the number of ships sunk (18). Maps, app., 366 pages. 1st F/F $25 ) Evident that Akins comes from a good submarine family and his superior officers are hopeful he will someday build something more significant than his current Ford Pinto (so to speak, as opposed to a REAL sub) of a wetsub project. He is possessed of an inventive mind and is a candidate for promotion from mechanic to sub cadet pilot with credentials as soon as he shows us pictures or video of his wetsub operating in water successfully. Akins was a U.S. Marine trained in water survival and is currently a practicing diver and has some knowledge and credibility in underwater operations. He has sometimes been criticized by a few of his crewmen for his interest in civil war submarines and has been called "a candlewaster" (one who reads but learns nothing), and also called a "Hunley bunnley" but gets along very well with most of his other shipmates. He is
always willing to help to a fault. I recommend perhaps one day he will be
eligible for
promotion to the elite psubs officer ranks with a
commisson and credentials and credibility rating. However, until such time
as Akins
shows us his completed and successful wetsub
(barely a submarine according to some officers) or any other sub project he may
complete,
I recommend his comments and suggestions
should be suspect and checked out and confirmed
with superior officers before being acted upon.
Overall his performance is satisfactory but could
use some improvement. No promotion recommended at this time.
SMILE. No Offense. Just makin a point and
fun'n.
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