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David,
I would think a lot of the heat comes from the sun. I am located in
southern California so I can't really relate to the tropics, I imagine the heat
down there is also from the warm water. But where I am the heat that would
be a problem would be from solar radiation coming in though viewports. I was
thinking for that problem would be to have some sort of canopy on the surface to
block the sun. Our water is between 55 and 70 degrees F, very refreshing
actually.
Brian
To all: Not sonar related but...
It is said that necessity is the mother of invention...
The only dive I have ever been on aboard a small submarine was hotter than
hell. Nothing against this sub captain or his submarine as I feel all
small submarine experience this problem when working in warm water and in the
Summer months.
Solution?...
A
small container installed aboard this submarine thru the already available
access hatch and set upright and out of the way. It appears as a small cooler
with an easy to open upper lid.
Prior to diving, this lid is opened
and a small bag of ice or perhaps several is simply poured into this opening.
It lands on a screen about 3/4 of the way down into this opening. This lid is
then closed and a small toggle switch is then turned on.
A 12
volt dc fan draws air from an intake port above this ice and is supplied by a
funnel such as is used on household clothes dryers from perhaps
somewhere aft in the submarine. This air passes thru this ice and into the
this fan which exhaust it again into a tube sent forward perhaps to several
exhaust ports.
As this ice melts, the condensate drips down and is
collected into a pan at the units base. This pan is designed to slide out once
full for disposal of this collected water of perhaps 2 gallons. A high water
level alarm could be installed as an extra.
At the dives end, this
collected water is simply slid out and thrown over the side as fresh ice is
again installed into the units upper lid assembly in preparation for the next
dive.
Of but the power used to circulate air, no addition power is
used to operate this device so it is not much of an additional drain on the
boats electrical systems as would an actual ac unit.
Although not
perfect, this device should lower the temperature enough to make diving a bit
more comfortable for both the submarine operator and that of his
passengers.
Does this device seem worth while to
develop?
David Bartsch
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