Project description
Hydrogen fuel cell-powered AUV for ocean exploration
Ocean exploration relies on battery-powered autonomous unmanned vehicles (AUVs). Nevertheless, the available battery charge limits their operational endurance. Gliders, an AUV subclass, move like a profiling float converting the vertical motion to horizontal, propelling themselves forward with very low power consumption extending mission duration. However, as they cannot cruise in a straight line, they cannot perform seabed mapping, and they require a surface support vessel, which increases the overall mission cost. The EU-funded ENDURUNS project will implement an innovative hybrid design powered by hydrogen fuel cells. AUV’s operation will rely on the support from an unmanned surface vehicle supplying geotagging and data transmission capability to and from the control centre onshore.
Objective
Battery-powered AUVs have been used to study the seabed without the requirement of a human operator. Their operational endurance is limited by the available battery charge. Gliders, an AUV subclass, use small changes in their buoyancy to move like a profiling float. By using their wings, gliders can convert the vertical motion to horizontal, propelling themselves forward with very low power consumption. Hence, mission duration can be extended to months and to thousands of kilometers. However, gliders are suited for a particular set of missions involving relatively basic measurements and seabed mapping cannot be performed due to their inherent inability to cruise in a straight line. A surface support vessel is standard practice for launch and recovery of AUVs. The requirement to have a support vessel adds to the overall mission cost. Therefore higher endurance is needed in AUV platforms in order to bring mission costs down and improve the ocean exploration capability. The ENDURUNS project will deliver a step-change in AUV technology by implementing a novel hybrid design power by hydrogen fuel cell. An Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) will support the operation of the AUV, providing geotagging and data transmission capability to and from the Control Centre on shore.
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
732 00 SOUDA CRETE
Greece
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.