Sea Dragon-class ROV

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Sea Dragon (海龙) class remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROUV) is a class of Chinese remotely operated vehicle (ROV) used to perform various underwater tasks ranging from oil platform service to salvage and rescue missions, and it is a class of ROUV developed in People's Republic of China (PRC) with diving capability up to 3,500 meters. After its successful development, a series of ROUVs have ased on the experience gained from Sea Dragon.

Background[edit]

Although numerous types of ROUVs have been developed in China in the 1980s and 1990s, these ROUVs are limited in that their maximum operating depth is restricted within 1,000 meters, which is not enough for deepwater explorations and other tasks. To meet the urgent need of a ROUV that is capable of deepwater operations, China decided to develop the Sea Dragon (海龙) class ROUV on its own since it was too costly and thus impractical to obtain foreign assistance on the international market.

The funding of the development of Sea Dragon class ROUV was provided by COMRA (中国大洋协会, short for China Ocean Mineral Resource Research and Development Association, 中国大洋矿产资源研究开发协会), and Institute of Underwater Engineering (水下工程研究所) of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SHJTU) was named as the contractor. Mr. Ren Ping (任平), a professor at School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering of SHJTU was named as the general designer. Other important design team members included Mr. Zhu Jimao (朱继懋),[1][2][3][4] [5][6]another SHJTU professor, who was the general designer of earlier Type 7103 DSRV and the general designer of earlier HR-01 ROUV. The importance of Sea Dragon series ROUV is that they provided the foundation of knowhow of indigenous ROUVs domestically developed in China, with numerous ROUVs subsequently developed directly based on experience gained from Sea Dragon series.

Sea Dragon-1 ROUV[edit]

Sea Dragon-1 (usually simply referred as Sea Dragon) ROUV is equipped with half a dozen underwater cameras with one of them specifically for stationary objects, and half a dozen underwater lights for illumination. Sea Dragon has received production index JTR-41.[7]Additionally, there are two high-intensity discharge lamps for additional illumination, and a sonar is also present for additional search capability. A 100-horsepower propulsion powers four thrusters for horizontal movements and another pair of thrusters for vertical movements. There are two manipulators, one with 7 degree of freedom (DOF), and another of 5-DOF, capable of handling several hundred kilograms of weight, and able to perform a variety of tasks underwater.

The tether management system (TMS) weighs 2.5 tons, while the cable spool with steel cables weighs over 40 tons. To avoid the loss of ROUV in bad weather as in the case of Kaikō in 2003, a specially designed mechanism was incorporated to prevent such mishaps. On July 29, 2004, Sea Dragon ROUV begun its final sea trials and after the completion, it subsequently entered Chinese service in the same year,[7]but it was not until more than half a decade later in 2011 when it finally become fully capable of operating regularly at the maximum depth originally designed. Since then, Sea Dragon has successfully performed numerious missions.[1][2][3][4][5]Specification:[7]

  • Length: 3.17 meter
  • Width: 1.81 meter
  • Height: 2.24 meter
  • Weight: 3.45 ton
  • Operating depth: 3500 meter
  • Payload: 250 kg
  • Speed: 3.3 kt
  • Propulsion: 100 SHP

Sea Dragon-2 ROUV[edit]

Sea Dragon-2, also known as Sea Dragon II, is the successor of Sea Dragon, developed by the same designer and also funded by COMRA, the funding provider of Sea Dragon-1 ROUV. During the deployment of Sea Dragon, valuable information is obtained based on the feedback, and this info became the base for upgrading Sea Dragon, which eventually became Sea Dragon-2 ROUV. From April 29, 2008 thru May 17, 2008, Sea Dragon-2 ROUV successfully completed its final sea trials in South China Sea under the leadership and supervision of Professor Zhu Jimao, and subsequently entered Chinese service, but again as with its predecessor Sea Dragon, Sea Dragon II did not become fully capable of operating regularly at the maximum depth originally designed until 2011.

The most obvious improvement that differentiates Sea Dragon-2 ROUV from Sea Dragon-1 ROUV is that Sea Dragon-2 is almost as twice fast as Sea Dragon-1 ROUV in reaching the maximum operating depth of 3,500 meters: it would only take less than 30 minutes for Sea Dragon-2 ROUV to achieve so, as opposed to nearly 50 minutes for Sea Dragon-1. Other physical characteristics and performance parameters remain the same as that of Sea Dragon-1, but reliability, maintainability and availability are improved for Sea Dragon-2, based on the feedback from the service of Sea Dragon. Despite such improvements, size and weight of Sea Dragon 2 is almost identical to that of Sea Dragon 1 due to advanced technologies adopted. Since its completion, Sea Dragon 2 has also successfully completed many missions. [8][9][10][11]Specification: [8][9][10][11]

  • Length: 3.8 meter
  • Width: 1.8 meter
  • Height: 1.8 meter
  • Weight: 3.45 ton
  • Operating depth: 3500 meter
  • Payload: 250 kg
  • Propulsion: 125 SHP

Sea Dragon III[edit]

Sea Dragon III is a development of earlier Sea Dragon II, and its general designer is SHJTU professor Mr. Ge Tong (葛彤).[12][13][14][15][16]The maximum operating depth is nearly doubled from the 3500 meter of Sea Dragon II to 6000 meter of Sea Dragon III, and the payload is also increased by forty percent to 350 kg.[12][13][14][15][16]Specification:[12][13][14][15][16]

  • Operating depth: 6000 meter
  • Payload: 350 kg
  • Propulsion: 170 SHP

Sea Dragon 4E[edit]

Sea Dragon 4E is a ROUV designed mainly for underwater engineering tasks, such as surveillance, inspection, cleaning, cutting, and welding construction work of oil platforms and hydraulic projects.[16][17][18][19]

Sea Dragon 11000[edit]

Sea Dragon 11000 is a ROUV that is capable of operationg at a depth of 11000 meters.[20][21][22][23][24][25]As with earlier models of Sea Dragon series, the maximum diving depth is not achieved at the very first attempt in one shot, but instead, diving depth are increased gradually with each attempt, and significant milestone including reaching depth of 410 meter on its first diving on March 30, 2018,[21][22]reaching 2000 meters in April 2018,[20][21][22]and 6000 meters in September 2018,[20][23][24][25]with planned diving depth of 11000 meters finally achieved in 2021.[20]Specification:[20][21][22]

  • Maximum operating depth: 11000 meter

JTML-02[edit]

JTML-02 is a ROUV designed for digging tasks on seabed, part of construction work when laying underwater power and communication cables.[26] Specification:[26]

  • Length: 1 meter
  • Width: 5.4 meter
  • Height: 2 meter
  • Digging depth: 2.5 meter
  • Operating depth: 50 meter
  • Maximum diameter of cable allowed: 0.16 meter

JTMP-03[edit]

JTMP-03 is a ROUV designed for digging tasks on seabed, part of construction work when laying underwater cables and pipelines.[27]Specification:[27]

  • Length: 9 meter
  • Width: 5 meter
  • Height: 3.355 meter
  • Digging depth when laying cables: 2 meter
  • Digging depth when laying pipes: 3 meter
  • Operating depth: 100 meter
  • Maximum diameter of cable allowed: 0.16 meter
  • Maximum diameter of pipe allowed: 0.8 meter

JTMP-04 Walrus[edit]

JTMP-04 Walrus (Hai-Xiang, 海象) is a ROUV designed for digging tasks on seabed, part of construction work when laying underwater cables and pipelines.[28]Specification:[28]

  • Length: 11 meter
  • Width: 10 meter
  • Height: 5.5 meter
  • Digging depth: 4 meter
  • Operating depth: 100 meter
  • Maximum diameter of cable and pipe allowed: 1.5 meter

JTR-11[edit]

JTR-11 is a lightweight underwater ROUV designed for observation missions, and is equipped with LED light and 1 CCD camera.[29]Specification:[29]

  • Length: 0.65 meter
  • Width: 0.45 meter
  • Height: 0.3 meter
  • Weight: 22 kg
  • Operating depth: 100 meter
  • Speed: 0.5 kt

JTR-21[edit]

JTR-21 is designed for underwater inspection and search missions, and is equipped with LED light, 2 CCD cameras, and Canadian Imagenex Model 881 digital multi-frequency imaging sonar.[30]Specification:[30]

  • Length: 1 meter
  • Width: 0.56 meter
  • Height: 0.5 meter
  • Weight: 60 kg
  • Operating depth: 200 meter
  • Payload: 10 kg
  • Speed: 3.3 kt

JTR-31[edit]

JTR-31 is designed for use in underwater construction, and is equipped with 2 manipulators, 2 CCD cameras, LED lights and Canadian Imagenex Model 881 digital multi-frequency imaging sonar.[31]Specification:[31]

  • Length: 2 meter
  • Width: 0.7 meter
  • Height: 0.9 meter
  • Weight: 200 kg
  • Operating depth: 200 meter
  • Speed: 3 kt
  • Payload: 50 kg

JTR-F1[edit]

JTR-F1 is a light weight ROUV designed for underwater rescue missions, and especially when there is the need to venture inside the wreckage.[32]Specification:[32]

  • Length: 1 meter
  • Width: 0.4 meter
  • Height: 0.3 meter
  • Weight: 25 kg
  • Operating depth: 100 meter
  • Speed: 2 kt
  • Endurance: 10 hour

In addition to CCD camera and LED light, JTR-F1 also carries batteries onboard, and thus is remotely operated via much lighter fiber optic cable, without the need of power cable.[32]

JTR-H1[edit]

JTR-H1 is a light weight ROUV for underwater observation missions in radioactive environment, and it can also be used for inspection inside pipelines.[33]Specification:[33]

  • Length: 0.47 meter
  • Width: 0.49 meter
  • Height: 0.41 meter
  • Weight: 31 kg
  • Speed: 1 kt

JTR-H1 is equipped with CCD camera, LED light, and 1 manipulator.[33]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Sea Dragon remotely operated underwater vehicle" (in Simplified Chinese). December 10, 2009.
  2. ^ a b "Sea Dragon remotely operated vehicle" (in Simplified Chinese). December 10, 2009.
  3. ^ a b "Sea Dragon ROUV" (in Simplified Chinese). December 10, 2009.
  4. ^ a b "Sea Dragon underwater robot" (in Simplified Chinese). December 9, 2009.
  5. ^ a b "Sea Dragon" (in Simplified Chinese). Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  6. ^ "Sea Dragon ROV" (in Simplified Chinese). April 19, 2012.
  7. ^ a b c "ROUV" (in Simplified Chinese). July 2, 2012.
  8. ^ a b "Sea Dragon II remotely operated underwater vehicle" (in Simplified Chinese). Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  9. ^ a b "Sea Dragon II remotely operated vehicle" (in Simplified Chinese). December 10, 2009.
  10. ^ a b "Sea Dragon II ROUV" (in Simplified Chinese). December 10, 2009.
  11. ^ a b "Sea Dragon II ROV" (in Simplified Chinese). December 10, 2009.
  12. ^ a b c "Sea Dragon remotely operated underwater vehicle" (in Simplified Chinese). April 15, 2019.
  13. ^ a b c "Sea Dragon III ROUV" (in Simplified Chinese). April 13, 2019.
  14. ^ a b c "Sea Dragon III remotely operated vehicle" (in Simplified Chinese). April 15, 2019.
  15. ^ a b c "Sea Dragon III underwater robot" (in Simplified Chinese). July 27, 2019.
  16. ^ a b c d "Sea Dragon III & 4E" (in Simplified Chinese).
  17. ^ "Sea Dragon 4E remotely operated underwater vehicle" (in Simplified Chinese). Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  18. ^ "Sea Dragon 4E ROUV" (in Simplified Chinese). June 4, 2018.
  19. ^ "Sea Dragon 4E remotely operated vehicle" (in Simplified Chinese). May 30, 2018.
  20. ^ a b c d e "Sea Dragon 11000 remotely operated underwater vehicle" (in Simplified Chinese). Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  21. ^ a b c d "Sea Dragon 11000 ROUV" (in Simplified Chinese). April 1, 2018.
  22. ^ a b c d "Sea Dragon 11000 remotely operated vehicle" (in Simplified Chinese). April 1, 2018.
  23. ^ a b "Sea Dragon 11000 ROV" (in Simplified Chinese). September 10, 2018.
  24. ^ a b "Sea Dragon 11000 underwater robot" (in Simplified Chinese). September 10, 2022.
  25. ^ a b "Sea Dragon 11000" (in Simplified Chinese). September 10, 2018.
  26. ^ a b "JTML-02 ROUV" (in Simplified Chinese). October 25, 2011.
  27. ^ a b "JTMP-03 ROUV" (in Simplified Chinese). October 25, 2011.
  28. ^ a b "JTMP-04 ROUV" (in Simplified Chinese). July 2, 2012.
  29. ^ a b "JTR-11 ROUV" (in Simplified Chinese). October 24, 2011.
  30. ^ a b "JTR-21 ROUV" (in Simplified Chinese). October 24, 2011.
  31. ^ a b "JTR-31 ROUV" (in Simplified Chinese). October 25, 2011.
  32. ^ a b c "JTR-F1 ROUV" (in Simplified Chinese). October 25, 2011.
  33. ^ a b c "JTR-H1 ROUV" (in Simplified Chinese). October 25, 2011.
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