Abstract
Energy management is a critical and challenging factor required for efficient and safe operation of underwater gliders (UGs), and the energy consumption model (ECM) is indispensable. In this paper, a more complete ECM of UGs is established, which considers ocean currents, seawater density variation, deformation of the pressure hull, and asymmetry of gliding motion during descending and ascending. Sea trial data are used to make a comparison between ECMs with and without the consideration of ocean currents, and the results prove that the ECM that considers the currents has a significantly higher accuracy. Then, the relationship between energy consumption and multiple parameters, including gliding velocity relative to the current, absolute gliding angle, and diving depth, is revealed. Finally, a simple example is considered to illustrate the effects of the depth-averaged current on the energy consumption.
Highlights
After about 30 years of development, underwater gliders (UGs) have become an efficient ocean observation instrument, which are widely applied due to their high endurance, low energy consumption, and low cost without expensive supporting vessels [1].Generally, UGs are designed to be very compact to facilitate deployment and concealment, which limits the space for the battery onboard, making it difficult for a UG to carry an energy intensive sensor, which is, necessary in some situations
The above energy consumption model (ECM) are effective in revealing the basic relationship between energy consumption and various parameters of UGs, which is very valuable in the shape design, motion parameter optimization and mission planning of UGs
This work presents an ECM of UG based on open-loop control considering the depthaveraged current (DAC)
Summary
After about 30 years of development, underwater gliders (UGs) have become an efficient ocean observation instrument, which are widely applied due to their high endurance, low energy consumption, and low cost without expensive supporting vessels [1]. To address the problem of energy-optimal path planning in the presence of flow fields for UGs with complex dynamics, an ECM considering the change of the heading angle was presented by Lee et al [11]. The above ECMs are effective in revealing the basic relationship between energy consumption and various parameters of UGs, which is very valuable in the shape design, motion parameter optimization and mission planning of UGs. The existing ECMs, may be inaccurate or inconsistent in a real situation in actual marine environments, with ocean currents and gradient of seawater density which have a significant impact on dynamic behaviour and the energy consumption of UGs [17,18,19]. Several simulations are performed to investigate the relationship between the energy consumption and multiple parameters, as well as the impact of DAC on the energy efficiency of the UGs. The main contributions of this work can be concluded as follows: 1.
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