Field of the invention
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The invention relates to a diving water vehicle comprising a hull, a water flow channel arranged in the lower part of said hull for the water to flow therethrough during use, a propulsion arrangement comprising a motor, a propeller driven by said motor and at least one first battery connected to said motor for powering said motor, said propulsion arrangement being associated with said flow channel to produce a water displacement through said water flow channel via said propeller.
State of the art
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Diving water vehicles 1000 are known in the art, such as the one shown in Figures 1 to 3. This kind of vehicles is intended for the user or driver as a swimming aid over the water surface, as well as a diving aid.
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To this end, diving water vehicle 1000 of the prior art comprises a hull 1002 with a water flow channel 1004 arranged in the lower part of the hull 1002, i.e. the part of the hull 1002 under the water surface during use as a swimming aid. Thanks to this water flow channel 1004, during use, the water flows therethrough thanks to a propulsion arrangement. This propulsion arrangement comprises a controller 1012, a motor 1006, a propeller 1010 driven by the motor 1006 via a shaft 1014 and two batteries 1008 connected to the motor 1006. As it is apparent from Figures 1 to 3, the hull 1002 is closed and defines a closed chamber 1016 containing the controller 1012 for the motor, the motor 1006 and the batteries 1008. On the other hand the shaft 1014 protrudes from this closed chamber 1016 into the flow channel 1004, to drive the propeller 1010.
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To drive the vehicle 1000, there are two steering handles 1018 arranged at the sides of the upper section of the hull 1002. The handles 1018 include knobs for powering the motor 1006 via the control 1012 and the batteries 1008.
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Although this diving water vehicle 1000 has a very good performance in the water in terms of speed, battery duration, and other premium features in the water vehicle sector, it has the disadvantage that it quite bulky and heavy. Indeed, this known vehicle weights over 40 kilograms. This means that to pull the vehicle out of the water, two people are often needed to share the weight when carrying the vehicle. Therefore, this type of water vehicle is less convenient for water vehicles oriented, e.g. to recreational purposes or to be carried by one single user.
Summary of the invention
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It is an object of the invention to propose a diving water vehicle which is lighter than the vehicles of the state of the art and which is easier to manoeuvre. This purpose is achieved by a diving water vehicle of the type indicated at the beginning, characterized in that said motor is at least partially arranged in said flow channel and said motor is at least partially arranged below said at least one first battery.
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Taking advantage of the water flow channel to place the motor provides for compacity of the water vehicle in the longitudinal direction. Moving the motor into the flow channel, which extends between an inlet and an outlet, allows to gain space inside the hull and therefore to reduce the overall length of the vehicle. Therefore, the size of some components such as, at least the shaft connecting the motor with the propeller can be shortened ant the weight of the vehicle is automatically reduced. A shorter vehicle also provides for a better manouvreability of the vehicle.
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The invention further includes a number of preferred features that are object of the dependent claims and the utility of which will be highlighted hereinafter in the detailed description of an embodiment of the invention.
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In an embodiment seeking for an optimized length shortening, said motor is arranged in its entirety in said flow channel. This also has an additional advantage which is that the motor can be refrigerated by the water flowing through the water channel, thus increasing its electrical performance.
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In another embodiment said motor is arranged symmetrically to the sagittal plane dividing the water vehicle in two halves. This arrangement provides for a more balanced weight distribution which makes the steering of the water vehicle more symmetric and foreseeable.
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Preferably said hull has an overall length, said overall length being measured on the sagittal plane of said hull, from a first point being the foremost point of the bow of said hull to a second point being the rearmost point of the stern of said hull and in that said motor is arranged in the rear half of the overall length of said hull. This displacement of the motor rearwards causes the center of mass of the vehicle to also move rearwards and as a consequence during use, the bow of the water vehicle tends to be raised relative to the stern. Therefore, the water vehicle provides a better manoeuvrability when driving on the water surface as swimming aid.
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In another embodiment it is preferred that said hull has an overall height, said overall height being measured on the sagittal plane of said hull, from a third point being the uppermost point of said hull to a fourth point being the lowest point of said hull and said motor is completely arranged in the lower half of said overall height. Again, this arrangement lowers the center or mass of the vehicle facilitating the manoeuvrability, since the vehicle tends to slightly raise the bow on its own, while to lower the bow, the user can make use of his own body weight. This is a more ergonomic way to drive since the user's weight can be used for diving, while at the same time the user does not need to exert any raising force with the handles when using the vehicle as swimming aid.
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In another embodiment said hull has an overall length, said overall length being measured on the sagittal plane of said hull, from a first point being the foremost point of the bow of said hull to a second point being the rearmost point of the stern of said hull and said at least one first battery is arranged in the rear half of the overall length of said hull.
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Preferably said hull has an overall height, said overall height being measured on the sagittal plane of said hull, from a third point being the uppermost point of said hull to a fourth point being the lowest point of said hull and said at least the 60% of the weight the at least one battery is arranged in the upper half of said overall height.
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In another embodiment the vehicle comprises a second battery and said first and second batteries are arranged mirror symmetrically to said sagittal plane, thus allowing to have a less nervous vehicle when steering to the right or the left.
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Preferably said first and second batteries are arranged to the sides of said motor. Again, this provides for a more friendly driving experience, but additionally, causes the width of the vehicle to increase and provides more protection for the user with a wider hull.
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In an especially preferred embodiment, seeking to reduce the size of the batteries and thus a reduced weight of the vehicle, but also looking for enough autonomy after a full battery charging said first and second batteries are electrically connected to each other in series.
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The vehicle of the invention is based on an hydrojet propulsion. Hydrojet or water jet is a propulsion system used for propelling marine vehicles in water by producing a jet of water.
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Preferably the propulsion arrangement comprises one among a ducted propeller (axial-flow pump), a centrifugal pump, or a mixed flow pump.
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In an especially preferred solution of the water vehicle said flow channel is substantially straight along said sagittal plane. In water vehicles of the state of the art the water channel tends to be strongly curved, which causes relevant pressure losses.
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In another embodiment the lowest upper point of the upper curve of said flow channel on said sagittal plane is located above the main axis of the shaft.
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In another embodiment for driving comfort improvement said hull comprises a torso supporting surface at the rear upper section of said hull for supporting at least the upper half of the user's torso during use.
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Preferably, the cross section of the flow channel decreases from the flow channel inlet to the flow channel outlet.
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Preferably the vehicle comprises two symmetrical steering handles arranged at the sides of the upper section of said hull.
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Likewise, the invention also includes other features of detail illustrated in the detailed description of an embodiment of the invention and in the accompanying figures.
Brief description of the drawings
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Further advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description, in which, without any limiting character, preferred embodiments of the invention are disclosed, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a diving water vehicle of the prior art.
- Figure 2 is a section cut along the central longitudinal vertical plane of the vehicle of Figure 1.
- Figure 3 is a section cut along the central longitudinal horizontal plane of the vehicle of Figure 1.
- Figure 4 is a perspective view of a diving water vehicle according to the invention.
- Figure 5 is a side view of the diving water vehicle of Figure 3.
- Figure 6 is a bottom view of the vehicle of Figure 3.
- Figure 7 is a diagrammatical section cut along the sagittal plane VII-VII of Figure 6.
- Figure 8 is a diagrammatical section cut along plane VIII-VIII of Figure 5.
- Figure 9 is a diagrammatical section cut along plane IX-IX of Figure 5.
- Figure 10 is a diagrammatical section cut along plane X-X of Figure 5.
Detailed description of embodiments of the invention
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Figures 4 to 10 show a diving water vehicle 1 according to the invention.
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Similar to the diving water vehicle of the prior art previously described, the diving water vehicle 1 of the invention, also comprises a hull 2 with two symmetrical steering handles 18 arranged at the sides of the upper section of the hull 2. Centrally, to the middle of the upper part of the hull 2 the vehicle comprises a cockpit 24 for informing the user about speed, diving depth and the like. The handles 1018 include knobs for powering the motor 1006 via the control 1012 and the batteries 1008.
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Preferably the hull 2 comprises a torso supporting surface 20 at the rear upper section of the hull 2 for supporting at least the upper half of the user's torso during use, i.e. during the driving operation.
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The vehicle 1 further comprises a water flow channel 4 arranged in the lower part of the hull 2 for the water to flow therethrough during use. To have an hydrojet effect the cross section of this tubular flow channel 4 narrows down or decreases in its cross section from the inlet 28 of the flow channel 4 to the outlet 30 thereof, as shown in Figures 7 and 10. In particular, in this embodiment the cross section in the sagittal plane decreases very little, see Figure 7, while in the plane X-X of Figure 10, the cross section decreases very rapidly in the shape of a funnel. Thanks to this the water speed is highly increased from the inlet 28 to the outlet 30.
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At standstill, when the vehicle 1 is floating in the water, the water level reaches somewhere between the planes VIII-VIII and X-X of Figure 5. However, in use as swimming aid, the water vehicle 1 tends to raise the bow with the increasing speed while the stern is slightly lowered.
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Further to the flow channel 4 the diving water vehicle 1, further comprises a propulsion arrangement comprising a motor 6, a propeller 10 driven by the motor 6 and in this particular case, a first and second batteries 8, 12 connected to via electrical wires 22 said motor 6 for powering the motor 6. As it is apparent from Figures 7 and 8, the hull 2 is closed and defines a closed chamber 16 containing a controller 12 for the motor as well as the already cited motor 6 and batteries 8. Also, electrical wires 22 are provided to connect the display of the cockpit to the controller 12 and the controller to the motor. Furthermore, the first and second batteries 8, 12 are arranged mirror symmetrically to said sagittal plane SP and to the sides of the motor.
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The propulsion arrangement of this vehicle 1 is associated with said flow channel 4 to produce a water displacement through the water flow channel 4 via the propeller 10.
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More particularly, to solve the problem of the invention, that is to propose a diving water vehicle which is lighter than the vehicles of the prior art and which is easier to manoeuvre, the motor 6 is at least partially arranged in the flow channel 4 and the motor 6 is at least partially arranged below the first and second batteries 8, 12. However, in this particular embodiment said motor is arranged in its entirety in the flow channel 4 with a protecting casing 26.
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The propeller 10 is connected to the motor 6 by means of the shaft 12.
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Furthermore, as it is apparent from Figure 10, the motor 6 of this embodiment is arranged symmetrically to the sagittal plane SP dividing the water vehicle 1 in two halves.
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Preferably the hull 2 has an overall length L. This overall length L is measured on the sagittal plane SP of the hull 2, from a first point P1 to a second point P2, as shown in Figure 7. The first point P1 is the foremost point of the bow of the hull 2, while the second point P2 is the rearmost point of the stern of the hull 2. As it is apparent from Figure 7, in the vehicle according to the invention it is preferable that the motor 6 is arranged in the rear half L/2-R of the overall length L of hull 2 for better manouvreability. Indeed, the greater the distance of the handles to the center of mass, the more manouvreable will the water vehicle 1.
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Furthermore, the hull 2 has an overall height H. Again, this overall height H is measured on the sagittal plane SP of the hull 2 from a third point P3 to a fourth point P4. The third point is the uppermost point of the hull 2 and the fourth point P4 is the lowest point of said hull 2. Again, as it is apparent from Figure 7, it is preferable that the motor 6 is completely arranged in the lower half H/2-L of the overall height H, thus lowering the center of mass of the vehicle. This tends to raise the front part of the vehicle in use. This provides for the user having to exert less force with the handles for controlling the vehicle when stearing. However, in order to dive, he can make use of its own weight to counteract the vehicle's tendency to raise the bow in use, that is, when the vehicle moves forward propelled by the propeller's action.
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In this embodiment of the water vehicle 1 of the invention the first and second batteries 8, 12 are arranged in the rear half L/2-R of the overall length L of the hull 2, providing a very compact geometry. This significantly reduces the weight of the vehicle and additionally influences very positively the maneouvrability thereof.
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One of the difficulties when shortening the vehicle 1 is that the batteries must be smaller. To solve this problem, it is preferable that the first and second batteries 8, 12 are electrically connected to each other in series to have enough power. Furthermore, this does not have to be a disadvantage for recreational vehicles, since smaller batteries are faster to fully charge.
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Steep direction changes in the flow channel are the origin of relevant pressure losses. As it is apparent from the vehicle 1000 of the prior art, the location of the motor 1006 within the closed chamber 1016 leads to a water flow channel 1004 being curved with a very steep radius 1020 in the sagittal plane SP to overcome the motors position, leading the water to flow in an ascending direction to flow to the propeller 1010. This leads, firstly to a more complicated water inflow, as well as to noticeable pressure losses within the flow channel 1004. On the contrary, in the vehicle 1 according to the invention, since the motor is located in the flow channel 4, the latter is substantially straight along said sagittal plane SP. In other words, the flow channel 4 extends from the inlet 28 to the outlet 30 without noticeable direction modifications. Preferably, the lowest upper point LUP of the upper curve UC of the flow channel on said sagittal plane SP is located above the main axis of the shaft 12. In this case, the lowest upper point is the start to the flow channel at the inlet 28.
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Thanks to all the features described in the previous paragraph a much smaller water vehicle is obtained, which is not only easier to lift and transport, but also more manouvreable. Additionally, this vehicle provides a greater comfort than smaller vehicles in the art, since the hydrojet effect makes it easier to drive.
