USA: Virgin Oceanic Starts Submarine Tests

Virgin Oceanic team started last week a series of tank and on-tether sea testing of its submarine.

The sub was tested at Alameda Naval Air Station near Oakland, CA. Over two full days of testing, the team verified the operations of all the major systems of the submarine, and conducted tests of our sustained life support, ballast weight release systems, lifting/loading best practices, and sustained propulsion systems.

On Day One, after some important safety discussions, they performed a series of land-based tests mostly dealing with the ballast system. There was a lot of heavy lifting involved as the team was wrangling multiple sets of 200 pound ballast weights into position under the sub, and lifting and securing them into the release mechanisms.

The tests showed that all the safety and release mechanisms were working as designed. Near the end of the day, the team prepped all of the CO2 scrubbers by filling them and installing them into the sub so it would be ready first thing in the morning for the life support testing.

On Day Two the sub was prepped for her first swim test, to be conducted in a large tank that was available at the location of the testing.

The team loaded their Chief Pilot, Chris Welsh, into the sub on land and began the life support test. The crane then lifted Chris and the sub into the tank, and they tested the ballast release systems to ensure that they performed equally as well while submerged in water.

Initially, Virgin Oceanic team had planned on also testing the propulsion systems in this tank, but there was not enough water depth in the tank to keep the propellers submerged when under power, so the decision was made to bring in a bigger crane so that it could lower the sub into the San Francisco Bay.

By this point, Chris had been sealed in the sub for three hours without problem, an excellent show for the life support system.

After re-adjusting ballast configurations, they were successful in submerging the sub enough to stress test the motors and batteries to a point well beyond what we expect to encounter during the dives. The systems performed significantly better than expected, and in addition Chris was in the sub for nearly an additional three hours, for a total of six hours of life support testing accomplished over the day without incident.

One lesson that the team learned during this testing is that the sub definitely needs some more “comfort” additions for the pilots, such as padding for elbows and knees. But, beyond this small issue – a very successful first “piloted” test for the sub was undertaken.

[mappress]
Subsea World News Staff , February 22, 2012;  Image: Virgin Oceanic