Boeing’s Underwater Robot Can Wander the Ocean for 6 Months
March 29th, 2016Via: Wired:
The Echo Voyager can spend six months at a time exploring the deep sea, with a 7,500-mile range, no ship needed. Structurally, the 51-foot Voyager’s not too different from its little brothers, the 32-foot Seeker and 18-foot Ranger. The big difference is the introduction of the hybrid rechargeable power system.
Like Boeing’s other UUVs, the 50-ton Voyager runs on lithium-ion or silver zinc batteries that power it for a few days at a time. But instead of scooting over to a ship any time it’s running low on power, the Voyager just fires up a diesel generator that recharges the batteries. (It only turns on the generator at the surface, so the exhaust can be piped into the air). The Voyager works like a Chevy Volt, if the Volt carried a thousand gallons of fuel and could drive from San Francisco to Hong Kong without hitting a gas station. (The Volt is more fuel efficient, though—battling water resistance, the Voyager goes just 7.5 miles per gallon.)
