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Here's a little thought that's been rolling around in the back of my mind
in one form or another for a while.
How would a guy add a diesel motor to a small psub size sub without a major
re-design and extensive modifications to the original sub.
Would it be possible to get a small diesel motor and place it in a "hard"
tank that bolts onto the back of a psub.
Use it during surface operations to power the sub, then close all the
valves ( like air intake/exhaust and water cooling in/out.) Controls for
starting, running, monitoring like oil pressure and temperature and steering
could be all electric using epoxied thru-hulls.
When ready to dive, close off the hard tank and go down with the existing
electric thrusters.
Now, if the total weight of the "motor pod" was neutral with the water
displacement, only the fuel usage would change the overall buoyancy of the
sub.
There's some nice little diesel motors out there, and maybe the pod
wouldn't have to be very big.
If you could get maybe 20 horse out of it, that could drive a small sub
along pretty well on the surface.
KEEP GOING.......
Ok, now with a slightly bigger pod, maybe a gen-set could be added so it
could be used to recharge your batteries while surface running.
KEEP GOING......
OK, now with a little bigger pod, maybe add a compressor so you could
recharge some HP air tanks for ballast blow.
I wonder how realistic a "modular" design would be, where the pressure
"control" cabin is 1 atmosphere, and the "mechanical pod" at 1 atmosphere
but separate from the cabin except for wiring was bolted on. It could be
set up so that it would be jettisoned if needed.
I'm planning on using a small outboard motor for some surface ops that
would either be transferred to a surface support boat or just stowed inside the
sub when I submerge, but a larger "mechanical pod" could be added with it's
size dependant on just how much mechanical stuff you put in it.
Much like a BIG sub where the engine room is separated with a bulkhead
door, this pod would stay at 1 atmosphere but wouldn't need to be connected to
the "Cabin" hull.
Now, if something inside needed working on, which is obviously gonna
happen often, the hard tank "pod" would need to be designed so it's relatively
easy to open up. A regular hinged hatch and "O" ring like the cabin hull would
be needed, but a removable end dome so the motor could be pulled would be needed
so you didn't have to crawl inside to work on it. A fuel tank and maybe a VBT
could be inside, again still at 1 atmosphere to keep the whole thing neutrally
buoyant.
Really, the thing could be big enough to put a big 360 V8 diesel in there.
Whoa!!!!! water skiing behind your sub !!
Seriously though, I wonder how realistic it would be to add a small "pod"
to pretty much ANY small sub if the pod was basically self contained and the
attachment was able to not interfere with the original sub in terms of balance
and maneuvering.
Just dreamin' here. Frank D.
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