A novel power system for thermal underwater gliders with PEMFC

Abstract

Underwater gliders are effective buoyancy-driven vehicles for sea sampling tasks because they are inexpensive, reusable and achieve a high duration. In all kinds of them, the thermal underwater glider which is propelled by a thermal engine has better performance. But the properties of thermal material and ocean conditions limit the thermal glider’s behaviour. A cogeneration power system for the thermal underwater glider was developed in this work. A PEMFC-thermal engine cogeneration power system was used to improve the performance of the thermal engine. Experiments of the prototype indicate that the power system proposed can promote the flexibility and adaptability of the thermal glider. When the PEMFC operates at 400 mA cm−2 current density, the heat from the PEMFC is able to make thermal material have a 12.64% volume change. Meanwhile the heat can provide up to 2.05 MPa pressure in the accumulator of the thermal engine, which assures the underwater glider to navigate in all seas.