Feasibility study of a new energy scavenging system for an autonomous underwater vehicle

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) can only operate for hours or days at a time between battery charges. Alternative power systems or in-situ charging strategies are required to extend missions. This paper presents the feasibility of a new gyroscopic wave-energy scavenging system. The energy scavenging system promises to; reduce AUV battery requirements negating the necessity to carry sufficient energy reserves (size and weight) for entire missions, reduce costs by freeing support vessel time (a major cost component in AUV deployment) and enable AUVs to be remotely and renewably recharged at sea, indefinitely extending missions. A theoretical description of the system and simulation results for a range of geometrically scaled torpedo style AUVs are presented. The results show that the generated power is sufficient to provide power for a range of AUV sensors and comparable to equivalent solar panel and wind turbine devices.