RIM Propeller for Micro Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

• Main Authors: Youcef-Toumi, Kamal (Contributor), Kim, David Donghyun (Contributor), Wu, You (Contributor), Noel, Antoine J. (Contributor)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: ASME International, 2019-01-15T13:29:45Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

Micro autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) need smallscale, powerful and safe propulsion systems especially when they are performing missions in pipes and other confined environments. However, the most conventional propulsion systems do not satisfy all three requirements: small, powerful and safe. A micro propulsion system meeting those requirements are developed based on the RIM propeller concept. It is compact and powerful; the complete motor-propeller assembly is 33mm in diameter, 12mm in depth and 16g in weight, and it is capable of producing 0.4N thrust in static water given a 7.1W power input. The paper presents the design, manufacturing and integration of the micro RIM propeller in an AUV.
Kuwait-MIT Center for Natural Resources and the Environment