GB1585262A

GB1585262A - Submersible diving unit

Info

Publication number: GB1585262A
Application number: GB1134876A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1977-06-20
Filing date: 1977-06-20
Publication date: 1981-02-25

Description

(54) SUBMERSIBLE DIVING UNIT (71) 1. JAMES WILLIAM REID, of 31 Ashgrove Court, Aberdeen, AB2 5BA., a British Subject, do hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to a submersible diving unit for enabling a diver within the unit to carry out work under water the diver being maintained at a controlled pressure such as atmospheric pressure.

Increasing exploitation of underwater resources has given rise to the need to work at increasingly greater depths. Working at the pressures ambient at such depths puts conventionally attired divers at considerable risk as well as severely limiting the time that can actually be spent at these depths.

According to this invention there is provided a submersible diving unit comprising a pressure vessel for housing a diver, means for maintaining the internal pressure of the vessel substantially constant within operational diving limits of depth, at least one articulated arm member pivotably secured to the pressure vessel in a fluid-tight manner, said arm member terminating in a hand having a plurality of movable finger portions, control means within the pressure vessel for manipulation by the diver to control movements of the arm member or members to simulate movements of the diver's upper arm, elbow, forearm, wrists, hand and fingers, wherein hydraulic rams are arranged in said arm member or members for producing said movement in a plurality of joints of the arm, hand and finger portions of the arm member or members, said rams being connected through valve arrangements to said control means within the pressure vessel.

Preferably two such arms are provided, said control means being arranged for detecting movements of the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hands and fingers of the diver when the latter operates the control means. Advantageously, the arms are arranged to be pressurised internally to a pressure substantially equal to the external pressure.

Means may be provided for propelling the diving unit to move in a desired way in response to action of the diver's feet on propulsion control means within the pressure vessel.

Embodiments of this invention will now be described, by way of example, with refernce to the accompanying drawings where in : - Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a first form of diving unit embodying this invention and illustrating how a diver is housed within the unit; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a second, preferred form of diving unit embodying thrs invention Figs. 3 and 4 are mutually perpendicular sectional views of the upper arm and elbow of the diving unit; Figs. 5 and 6 are mutually perpendicular sectional views of the lower arm, wrist and hand of the diving unit; Fig. 7 is a sectional view of a finger of the diving unit; Figs. 8 and 9 are sectional views of one of the component parts of the finger shown in Fig. 7;; Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating control cable connections to valve arrangements for the hydraulic operation of the fingers and wrist of the arm shown in Figs.

3 to 6; Figs. 11 and 12 are a plan view and a side view of a control arm of the diving unit; and Fig. 13 is a side view showing in greater detail part of the control arm shown in Fig.

11.

Referring to the drawings, a submersible diving unit 1 comprises a pressure vessel 2 made of metal and capable of maintaining its interior at substantially constant pressure even when submerged to considerable depths in water. The pressure vessel is supported on feet 3 and has a head portion 4 and arms 5.

Referring in particular to Fig. 2 there is shown a preferred form of pressure vessel m which the head portion has been modified to improve the pressure-resisfing ability of the pressure vessel. In each form of pressure vessel the head portion provides visual access to the exterior for a diver D, windows 6 being provided in the form shown in Fig. 2.

The pressure vessel is provided with external-illumination lights as at 7 and jet nozzles as at 8 which latter enable propulsion and manoeuvering of the diving unit.

Within the diving vessel, a seat 9 is provided for the diver and arm control units 10 and foot pedals 11 enable the diver to move and manoeuvre the diving unit and to operate the arms 5 to carry out work outside the unit 1.

As is shown in Fig. 1, the unit 1 is provided with a compressor 12 for exhausting waste air from within the pressure vessel, a hydraulic fluid reservoir 13 and a pumping unit 14. An instrument panel 15 is arranged inside the pressure vessel so as to be readily observable by the diver. To reduce the risk of pressure damage to the arms 5, the latter are filled with liquid supplied from a reservoir 16 subjected to the pressure outside the unit 1 by means of an externally open reservoir 17 and flexible membrane 18 between the reservoirs.

The construction of the arms is illustrated in Figs. 3 to 6. Each arm comprises a metal casing generally indicated by the reference numeral 19 enclosed by a flexible covering (not shown). The covering may be made of a flexibly resilient material to facilitate bending of the various joints of the arm and hand.

Alternatively the flexible covering may not be resilient but may be arranged sufficiently loose at the joints to allow bending.

The general mode of operating and controlling the arms may be of any conventional type in which a small movement requiring little force is used as a control by being transformed slavishly into a larger movement producing greater force than the control movement. However, one form of such a movement-tranfsforming arrangement is described below in conjunction with a description of the construction of the arms.

The casing 19 of each arm comprises two generally cylindrical portions 20, 21 pivotably secured to each other at an elbow 22 of the arm. The portion 20 (corresponding to the upper arm) is secured to the pressure vessel 2 at a shoulder 23 of the arm including a fluid-tight swivel joint 24 and a pivot joint 25.

The swivel joint 24 comprises a bearing member 26, bearings 27, a seal 28 and a carrier plate 29. The carrier plate 29 has two sets of apertures 30, 31 for conveying control rods 32 and hydraulic fluid respectively between the arm and the pressure vessel in such a way as to maintain a fluid-tight seal between the interiors of the pressure vessel and of the arm. The bearing member 26 bearings 27 and seal 28 act to provide a fluid-tight seal from the exterior of the diving unit.

Rod carriers 33 and conduits 34 are mounted in the apertures 30, 31 respectively and are sealingly interconnected with rod carriers 35 and conduits 36 mounted in a second carrier plate 37. Control rods 38 are slidably mounted in the carriers 35 and provide interconnections for control cable arrangements which will be referred to later.

The pivot joint 25 comprises a series of four overlapping movable casing portions 39 secured at one end of the series to a shoulder portion 40 fixed to the bearing member 26. The portions 39 are arranged to pivot and slide relative to each other and to the upper arm portion 20 to allow the latter to pivot at hinge 41 relative to the bearing member 26 so as to simulate raising and lowering of the diver's arm at the shoulder.

The elbow 22 is a pivot joint similar to the joint 25 and has a hinge 42 and a moveable casing portion 43 arranged to slide relative to socket portions 44, 45 of the arm portion 21. The latter extends co-axially with in the portion 20 and bearings 6 are provided between the arm portions 20, 21 to enable pivoting relative to each other about their common longitudinal axis.

The lower arm portion 21 terminates in a part-spherical wrist socket 47 in which a hand 48 is mounted via a movable casing portion 49 enabling universal movement of the hand relative to the portion 21. The hand has a wrist extension co-axially within the portion 21 and is enabled by bearings 50 to pivot relative to portion 21 about the common longitudinal axis. The hand also has three fingers 51 and a thumb 52 having knuckle pivot joints similar to the joints 22 and 25.

Movements in the various joints is produced hydraulically by means of rams 54 controlled by control valve arrangements such as 55 which are connected (see Fig. 10) via cables 56 to the control rods 38 via cranked levers 57 and thence via cranked levers 58 to cables such as 59 (Fig. 3) leading to the control units 10 which include finger controls 60 which will be referred to later. Cable compensators 61, 62 are provided at the shoulders and elbows to ensure correct cable tension during bending movement in the joints 25, 22.

Figs. 7 to 9 illustrate the construction and component parts of the fingers 51 and, in particular, the construction of hinges 63 to provide hydraulic fluid transmission via through passages 64 so as to interconnect pipes 65. The latter are made of metal where flexibility is not required and are reinforced internally where they are flexible as at the wrist and terminal portions of the fingers 51.

The movement of the water is controlled by three water jets acting through, or nearly through, the oentre of gravity. These jets are provided via nozzles such as 8 which can turn through 360 and can twist or turn or propel the pressure vessel in any desired direction. The nozzles 8 are supplied by a small high pressure electrically driven oirculator (not shown).

Figs. 11 to 13 illustrate one of the control arms 10.

Each control arm 10 comprises a pillar 100 pivotably secured at its upper end 101 to the internal wall of the pressure vessel. The pillar carries an operating member 102 arranged to operate two control valves 103 (only one of which is shown) in reponse to movement of the diver's upper arm sideways relative to his body and forwards and backwards relative to his body. An operating member 104 is arranged to co-act with a spring-resistance member 105 providing the controls with a degree of "feel".

Mounted on the lower end portion of th pillar 100 is a forearm support 106 having a square cross-section and an elbow rest 107.

The support 106 is mounted by means of a carrier member 108 so as to be pivotable relative to the pillar 100 about the longitudinal axis of the latter and about an axis normal to the plane of drawing of Fig. 12.

Adjacent the elbow rest 107 is an operating member 109 arranged to operate a control valve 110 detecting one of the respective types of pivoting movment of the support 106 relative to the pillar 100 due to movement of the diver's fore-arm. The operating member 109 also cowoperates with a springresistance member 111.

At the end of the support 106 remote from the elbow rest an operating member 112 is arranged to operate a control valve 113 detecting the other type of movement of the diver's fore-arm. The operating member 112 also co-operates with a spring-resistance member (not shown) similar to the member 111.

The operating member 112 also carries a control valve 114 for detecting twist of the diver's fore-arm. The valve 114 is arranged to be operated by an operating member 115 providing a double-pivot connection between a rotatable coupling 116 of the support 106 and one end of a telescopic length adjuster 117 (Fig. 13). The member 115 enables the adjuster 117 to pivot in two mutually perpendicular directions so as to follow the diver's arm movements. The rotatable coupling 116 enables twist of the adjuster 117 relative to the support 106. The adjuster 117 allows for effective changes in the diver's fore-arm length during bending at the elbow.

The control valves 103 and member 105 are fixedly mounted relative to the pressure vessel wall while the control valves 110 and 113 and associated spring-resivtance members are fixedly mounted on the carrier mcmber 108.

The other end of the adjuster 117 is connected via a double-pivot connection to the finger controls 60. An operating member 118 and associated control valves 119 (only one of which is shown) detect wrist movements in two mutually perpendicular directions.

The various control valves of the arms 10 and the finger controls 60 operate hydraulically to drive linkage which moves the cables 59. The hydraulic controls include variablepressure valves which may be spool valves.

Thus using the diving unit, the diver is able to move to a working position and to carry out necessary work using the control arms 10 to operate the control arms 5.

The diving unit may be supplied with power, air and other services via an umbilical cord (not shown) connected to a service module on the surface of the body of water in which the diving unit is submerged.

Alternatively or in addition the diving unit may be provided with self-contained sources of power and air to enable it to remain submerged independently for a limited period.

WHAT I CLAIM IS: 1. A submersible diving unit comprising a pressure vessel for housing a diver, means for maintaining the internal pressure of the vessel substantially constant within operational diving limits of depth, at least one articulated arm member pivotably secured to the pressure vessel in a fluid-tight manner, said arm member terminating in a hand having a plurality of movable finger portions, control means within the pressure vessel for manipulation by the diver to control movements of the arm member or members to simulate movements of the diver's upper arm, elbow, forearm, wrists, hand and fingers, wherein hydraulic rams are arranged in said arm member or members for producing said movement in a plurality of joints of the arm, hand and finger portions of the arm member or members, said rams being connected through valve arrangements to said control means within the pressure vessel.

2. A submersible diving unit as claimed in Claim 1 in which the control means for the or each arm member comprises an articulated control arm within the pressure vessel, said control arm having operating members responsive to movements of the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hands and fingers of the diver to actuate the valves in said valve arrangements.

3. A submersible diving unit according to Claims 1 or 2 wherein said at least one arm member is hollow and means are provided for pressurising the interior of the arm member.

4. A submersible diving unit according

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. by three water jets acting through, or nearly through, the oentre of gravity. These jets are provided via nozzles such as 8 which can turn through 360 and can twist or turn or propel the pressure vessel in any desired direction. The nozzles 8 are supplied by a small high pressure electrically driven oirculator (not shown). Figs. 11 to 13 illustrate one of the control arms 10. Each control arm 10 comprises a pillar 100 pivotably secured at its upper end 101 to the internal wall of the pressure vessel. The pillar carries an operating member 102 arranged to operate two control valves 103 (only one of which is shown) in reponse to movement of the diver's upper arm sideways relative to his body and forwards and backwards relative to his body. An operating member 104 is arranged to co-act with a spring-resistance member 105 providing the controls with a degree of "feel". Mounted on the lower end portion of th pillar 100 is a forearm support 106 having a square cross-section and an elbow rest 107. The support 106 is mounted by means of a carrier member 108 so as to be pivotable relative to the pillar 100 about the longitudinal axis of the latter and about an axis normal to the plane of drawing of Fig. 12. Adjacent the elbow rest 107 is an operating member 109 arranged to operate a control valve 110 detecting one of the respective types of pivoting movment of the support 106 relative to the pillar 100 due to movement of the diver's fore-arm. The operating member 109 also cowoperates with a springresistance member 111. At the end of the support 106 remote from the elbow rest an operating member 112 is arranged to operate a control valve 113 detecting the other type of movement of the diver's fore-arm. The operating member 112 also co-operates with a spring-resistance member (not shown) similar to the member 111. The operating member 112 also carries a control valve 114 for detecting twist of the diver's fore-arm. The valve 114 is arranged to be operated by an operating member 115 providing a double-pivot connection between a rotatable coupling 116 of the support 106 and one end of a telescopic length adjuster 117 (Fig. 13). The member 115 enables the adjuster 117 to pivot in two mutually perpendicular directions so as to follow the diver's arm movements. The rotatable coupling 116 enables twist of the adjuster 117 relative to the support 106. The adjuster 117 allows for effective changes in the diver's fore-arm length during bending at the elbow. The control valves 103 and member 105 are fixedly mounted relative to the pressure vessel wall while the control valves 110 and 113 and associated spring-resivtance members are fixedly mounted on the carrier mcmber 108. The other end of the adjuster 117 is connected via a double-pivot connection to the finger controls 60. An operating member 118 and associated control valves 119 (only one of which is shown) detect wrist movements in two mutually perpendicular directions. The various control valves of the arms 10 and the finger controls 60 operate hydraulically to drive linkage which moves the cables 59. The hydraulic controls include variablepressure valves which may be spool valves. Thus using the diving unit, the diver is able to move to a working position and to carry out necessary work using the control arms 10 to operate the control arms 5. The diving unit may be supplied with power, air and other services via an umbilical cord (not shown) connected to a service module on the surface of the body of water in which the diving unit is submerged. Alternatively or in addition the diving unit may be provided with self-contained sources of power and air to enable it to remain submerged independently for a limited period. WHAT I CLAIM IS:

1. A submersible diving unit comprising a pressure vessel for housing a diver, means for maintaining the internal pressure of the vessel substantially constant within operational diving limits of depth, at least one articulated arm member pivotably secured to the pressure vessel in a fluid-tight manner, said arm member terminating in a hand having a plurality of movable finger portions, control means within the pressure vessel for manipulation by the diver to control movements of the arm member or members to simulate movements of the diver's upper arm, elbow, forearm, wrists, hand and fingers, wherein hydraulic rams are arranged in said arm member or members for producing said movement in a plurality of joints of the arm, hand and finger portions of the arm member or members, said rams being connected through valve arrangements to said control means within the pressure vessel.

4. A submersible diving unit according

to Claim 3 wherein said arm pressurising means are arranged to pressurise the arm to a pressure substantially equal to that outside the diving unit.

5. A submersible diving unit according to Claim 3 or Claim 4 wherein the arm has a casing of a rigid material enclosed by a covering of a flexible material.

6. A submersible diving unit according to Claim 5 wherein said casing has pivot joints each including an arrangement of overlapping casing portions that are slidable relative to each other.

7. A submersible diving unit according to Claim 6 wherein each said pivot includes a hinge enabling pivoting of adjacent casing portions relative to each other and having hydraulic fluid through-passages.

8. A submersible diving unit according to any of the preceding Claims wherein said at least one arm is connected to the pressure vessel at a shoulder swivel joint having a carrier plate arranged to swivel relative to the pressure vessel cables from the control means being connected to cables from the control valve arrangements by means of an arrangement of levers and rods which latter are mounted for sliding movement through the carrier plate.

9. A submersible diving unit according to Claim 8 wherein said at least one arm member has cable compensators at shoulder and elbow pivot joints of the arms, said cable compensators maintaining the cables in preset tension during pivoting of the pivot joints.

10. A submersible diving unit according to any one of the preceding claims wherein two of said articulated arms and associated control means are provided.

11. A submersible diving unit according to any one of the preceding Claims wherein the control means are arranged to provide resistance to manipulation.

12. A submersible diving unit according to any one of the preceding Claims wherein means are provided for propelling the diving unit when under water, foot controls being provided within the pressure vessel to enable the diver to control movement of the diving unit.

13. A submersible diving unit according to Claim 12 wherein said propelling means includes a plurality of variable-direction nozzles extending to the exterior of the diving unit and means for producing a pressurised- fluid flow through said nozzles.

14. A submersible diving unit according to any one of the preceding Claims wherein said pressure vessel has a portion for housing the diver's head, and providing visual access to the exterior of the diving unit.

15. A submersible diving unit substantially as described herein with reference to Figs. 1 and 3 to 13 alone or as modified by Fig. 2 of the accompanying drawings.