Design and Performance Study for Electrothermally Deep-Sea Drive Microunits Using a Paraffin Phase Change Material.

Considering the further exploration of the ocean, the requirements for deep-sea operation equipment have increased. Many problems existing in the widely used deep-sea hydraulic system have become increasingly prominent. Compared with the traditional deep-sea hydraulic system, actuators using a paraffin phase change material (PCM) have incomparable advantages, including lightweight structure, low energy consumption, high adaptability to the deep sea, and good biocompatibility.

Self-powered soft robot in the Mariana Trench.

The deep sea remains the largest unknown territory on Earth because it is so difficult to explore. Owing to the extremely high pressure in the deep sea, rigid vessels and pressure-compensation systems are typically required to protect mechatronic systems. However, deep-sea creatures that lack bulky or heavy pressure-tolerant systems can thrive at extreme depths.

Experimental Study on the Coating Removing Characteristics of High-Pressure Water Jet by Micro Jet Flow.

In this paper, coating removal characteristics of water jet by micro jet flow affected by cleaning parameters is analyzed. Numerical simulation of fluid field calculates the velocity and pressure distribution of a water jet impinging on a rigid wall, which is used for design experiments of coating removal affected by jet pressure, traversal speed, and repeated impacting times. The removal width is used as a measure of water jet coating removal capability.

Development and Experiments of an Electrothermal Driven Deep-Sea Buoyancy Control Module.

Due to the extremely high pressures in the deep sea, heavy ballast tanks and pressure compensating hydraulic tanks are typically required to support the operation of classic buoyancy controls. Buoyancy control systems driven by phase-change materials (PCM) have unique advantages over conventional hydraulically actuated buoyancy control systems, including high adaptability for deep-sea exploration and simple, lightweight, and compact structures. Inspired by this, a buoyancy control module (BCM) was designed with flexible material as the shell.