Journal of Marine Science and Engineering Article Design and Analysis of a Variable Buoyancy System for Efficient Hovering Control of Underwater Vehicles with State Feedback Controller Brij Kishor Tiwari and Rajiv Sharma * Design and Simulation Laboratory, Department of Ocean Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai (TN) 600036, India;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 22 February 2020; Accepted: 4 April 2020; Published: 8 April 2020 Abstract: The design process for Variable Buoyancy System (VBS) is not known in full, and existing approaches are not scalable. Furthermore, almost all the small size Autonomous Underwater Vehicles/Gliders (AUVs/G’s) use very low capacity of buoyancy change (in the range of few milliliters) and the large size AUVs require large buoyancy change. Especially for adverse weather conditions, emergency recovery or defense-related applications, higher rate of rising/sinking (heave velocity) is needed along with an ability to hover at certain depth of operation. Depth of UVs can be controlled either by changing the displaced volume or by changing the overall weight and, herein, our focus is on the later. This article presents the problem of design and analysis of VBS for efficient hovering control of underwater vehicles at desired depth using the state feedback controller. We formulate and analyze the design and analysis approach of VBS using the fundamental of mechanics, system dynamics integration and control theory. Buoyancy is controlled by changing the overall weight of the vehicle using the ballasting/de-ballasting of water in ballast tanks through the use of Positive Displacement Pump (PDP) for control in heave velocity and hovering depth.