Sea Pole class bathyscaphe
| History | |
|---|---|
 People's Liberation Army Navy
|
|
| Name: | Sea Pole |
| Ordered: | 2 |
| Awarded: | 2 |
| Cost: | 180 million ¥ |
| Sponsored by: | People's Republic of China |
| Completed: | 2008 |
| Acquired: | 2009 |
| Commissioned: | 2009 |
| Maiden voyage: | 2008 |
| In service: | 2009 |
| Fate: | In service |
| Status: | Active |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | bathyscaphe |
| Displacement: | 24 t in air |
| Length: | 8.2 m (27 ft) |
| Beam: | 3 m (9.8 ft) |
| Draft: | 3.4 m (11 ft) |
| Propulsion: | electrical |
| Speed: | 2.5 kt |
| Range: | 12 hr |
| Endurance: | 3 x 12 hr |
| Test depth: | 7,000 m (23,000 ft) |
| Complement: | 3 |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
sonar & search lights |
The Sea Pole (Hai Ji, or Chinese: 海极) class bathyscaphe is a class of bathyscaphe of the People's Republic of China (PRC). They are capable of diving up to 7,000 meters, covering 99.8% of the oceanic floor of the world. Two units of this class are planned, with derivatives to follow and are used by both the civilian and military establishments in China.
Sea Pole class bathyscaphe is designed by the 702nd Research Institute of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation. The general designer is Mr. Xu Huangnan (Chinese: 徐芑南), a professor of School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering(Chinese: 船舶与海洋工程学院) of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SHJTU), who also designed many other Chinese submersibles and unmanned underwater vehicles. The first deputy general designer is Mr. Cui Weicheng (Chinese: 崔维成), and the deputy general designer was Mr. Zhu Weiqing (Chinese: 朱维庆), all of the three are academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. There are two mechanical arms with associated tools that enable the bathyscaphe to perform a various tasks at its maximum operational depth, and this pair of mechanical arms with 7 degrees of freedom (7-DOF) are mounted on the right and left sides of the vehicle, which is powered by 110 kWh (110 V, 800 Ah) silver oxide – zinc batteries.
The Sea Pole bathyscaphe is equipped with various communication systems, but the data transfer rate remains a bottleneck, with the transmission rate only being 80 kbit/s, compared to 100 Mbit/s in the usual internet transmissions. As a result, the transmission of an ordinary color image from the bathyscaphe to the mothership takes approximately half a minute.
The pressure hull is built of titanium alloy, and the manufacturing method for the pressure hull involves producing two hemispherical parts by tungsten inert gas welding (TIGW) six-side plates to a top plate, followed by heat treatments and polishing by machining; the two halves are then joined by TIGW to form a complete sphere. The plate thickness is 76 – 78 mm, with deviations of ±4 mm in the completed radius, and sphericity is 0.4% or less. Pressure testing of the pressure hull was performed in Russia, and included a one-hour test at a water pressure equivalent to 7,700 meters, or a 10% greater depth than the vessel's, 7,000 m maximum operational depth, a continuous hour-long test at water pressure equivalent to 7,000 m, and a test simulating 0 to 7,000 m ascent/descent of the submersible, which was repeated six times. There were no problems reported in any of these tests, and the pressure hull passed with flying colors.
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