[PSUBS-MAILIST] Re: Variable Ballast Calculations, Bill

Bill,

"Now imagine.....you ENCLOSED those tanks so their bottoms were enclosed and then you put a water inlet on/off valve at the top of both tanks on the INSIDE of the sub. Now you'dhave a Kittridge sub that had ambient tanks that as they filled they compressed the interior atmosphere of your sub"

This is an interesting idea worth investigating. I wonder though, about a disparity in volumes between the tanks and interior as well as rate of air flow and how everything ties together.

Thanks

Joe

From: "Akins" <lakins1@tampabay.rr.com>
Reply-To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
To: <personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Variable Ballast Calculations
Date: Sun, 13 Nov 2005 15:51:15 -0500

Hi Joe.

There would be no reason you couldn't trust your skills to cycle like that Joe.

Think about this. Imagine a Kittridge sub. It has two soft, open to the bottom, external ballast tanks

fore and aft correct? Now imagine.....you ENCLOSED those tanks so their bottoms were enclosed

and then you put a water inlet on/off valve at the top of both tanks on the INSIDE of the sub. Now you'd

have a Kittridge sub that had ambient tanks that as they filled they compressed the interior atmosphere of your sub

and once under and neutrally buoyant, you could close off the valves and actually dive a bit deeper by forcing it

under with the dive planes. If you stopped your forward motion you would rise until you reached the point where

you were neutrally buoyant again. You might need to build your hull and ballast tanks a bit stronger than a typical

ambient though, because once you closed off the tank valves and forced her further under using the dive planes and

your forward motion, once you reached a depth that exceeded the internal pressure, you would need ballast tanks and

a hull that would hold the pressure. But I don't see it as a markedly radical deviation from building a typical ambient.

At any rate, it would be fascinating to see a homebuilt hybrid ambient/1atm like this.

Bill.

----- Original Message -----

From: Joseph Perkel

To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org

Sent: Sunday, November 13, 2005 12:54 PM

Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Variable Ballast Calculations

Bill,

The "hybrid" component of the Hunley is fascinating and would be interesting to consider. But as I told you earlier, I do not trust my engineering skills enough to design the hull in such a manner as to be able to "cycle" like that. But perhaps others would be able to incorporate precisely those ideas, the savings in space and air requirements would be well worth the effort.

Fascinating links...thanks!

Joe