Design of a new composite underwater hull cleaning robot

In light of the issues associated with marine organisms adhering to hull surfaces during sea transportation, leading to additional fuel consumption and hull damage, this paper proposes a novel design for an underwater hull cleaning robot. Building upon existing technology, the robot integrates traditional mechanical cleaning and cavitation jet cleaning methods, enhancing both approaches. It can first mechanically clean most of the attachments of the hull, and then deeply clean the remaining residues of the cavitation jet, so as to achieve efficient and non-destructive comprehensive cleaning of the hull surface, thereby reducing the ocean transportation cost. We used SolidWorks to conduct modeling and solid simulation experiments, and fluent to conduct fluid simulation experiments. The experimental results show that the robot can meet the cleaning needs of offshore platforms. •The design of a new composite underwater hull cleaning robot is proposed on the basis of existing technology.•The robot improves and integrates traditional mechanical and cavitation jet cleaning methods.•It can improve cleaning efficiency and non-destructive properties, and reduce maritime transportation costs.•Simulation experiments using SolidWorks and Fluent show that the robot can meet work requirements.