On May 8, 2015, the “HaiMa” remote-controlled underwaterrobot，thefirst 4,500-meter unmanned remote-controlled submersible operating system independently developed by China, passed the acceptance inspection organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology. Kevin, deputy director of the 21st Century Agenda Management Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Gao Ping, deputy director of the Department of Science and Technology and international cooperation of the Ministry of Land and Resources, and Wen Ning, director of the Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, attended the acceptance meeting. The acceptance expert group consists of Xu Yinan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Su Jilan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Li Tingdong, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, etc.
As the organization and implementation department, the Ministry of Land and Resources organized the project, and the Guangzhou MarineGeological Survey Bureau takes the role as the owner unit, combing with Shanghai Jiaotong University, Zhejiang University, Qingdao OceanChemical Research Institute, Tongji University, and Harbin EngineeringUniversity, etc. A joint research and development team integrating production, teaching, and research have been formed, which has completed the development of the system and the sea trial through six years of research and cooperation.
In2014, in the three-stage sea trial conducted in the South China Sea, the “Hai Ma” has completed 17 dives and has reached the bottom of the Central Sea Basin in the South China Sea for three times. The maximum dive depth was 4,502 meters and 91 On-site assessment of technical indicators were completed, passed the marinated acceptance of the “863” plan marine technology organization. In the 2014 China Top Ten Science and TechnologyProgress News, which was selected by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the successful sea trial of“HaiMa” was selected as one of the top ten scientific and technological progress news in China, ranking second.
March 2015, the “HaiMa” was first applied to the natural hydrate of the South China Sea in China. In April, it went to the Western Pacific with the “Ocean No. 6” mother ship to conduct investigation and research on the mineral resources of the ocean. The offshore test and geological survey application show that the "HaiMa" has the reliability, stability and adaptability of practical marine equipment. In addition to the conventional functions and working ability of the strong working remote control underwater robot, it also has powerful extensions, such as extended seafloor observatory network cable laying, coordinated with the lifting device to complete the laying of marine equipment as well as the ability to support subsea hydraulic and electrical equipment, the technology of which has reached the level of similar foreign remote underwater robot. Which became another iconic achievement in the thehigh-tech field in the deep sea of China after the “Jiaolong”.
The development of "HaiMa" is a key project supported by the863 Program, which is the unmanned remote-controlled submersible system with the largest depth of localization and the highest localization rate independently developed by China and has achieved the localization of key core technologies. After nearly 6 years of research and development, it has broken through the key technologies such as body structure, buoyancy materials, hydraulic power and propulsion, working manipulators and tools, GuanTong navigation, control software, and hardware, and heave compensation device, the assembly and adjustment, the work of the sea bottom test, and technical improvements has completed respectively. the problems and faults exposed in the test has been improved.
In the three-stage sea trial, the “HaiMa” completed 17 dives total and three times to reach the bottom of the central sea basin of the South China Sea for operational tests, with a maximum dive depth of 4,480 meters. Underwater cable, sediment sampling, heat flow probe test, OBS submarine deployment, submarine self-photographing, marker placement, and many other tasks were completed, the joint operations with the underwater lifting device(Lander)were successfully achieved, and the On-site assessment of 91 technical indicators such as fixed height and fixed depth navigation are tested. The success of this sea trial marks that China has fully mastered the key technologies of large-depth unmanned remote-controlled submersibles and made substantial progress in the localization of key technologies, Which is another landmark achievement in the deep-sea high-tech field in China after the“Jiaolong”.
As the third participating unit, Zhejiang University has completed the main parts of the “HaiMa” body except for the mainframe, buoyancy block, observation communication, power supply and distribution, including hydraulic power system, propeller propulsion system, underwater. Robotic operation, underwater distributed control computer, deep-sea pressure compensation system, etc, which are equivalent to the "hippocampus" of the hands, feet, spine and blood circulation system. From the overall system design of the system, to the preliminary design and detailed design, to the standard formulation, to the manufacturing test of the parts, the assembly test of the subsystem and the pool test, and the final seatest, the "Hai Ma" hydraulic system project is a completely self-developed, self-manufactured and installed completely localized road. In the past five years, under the guidance of the hydraulic predecessors of the Electromechanical Institute, with the assistance of the chief engineer of the Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, TaoJun, and the project director Liu Dadi engineer, the high-pressure crystal oscillator and pressure valve control propeller propulsion were overcome respectively. The low-speed stability of the device, the automatic constant power control principle of the parallel dual-machine dual-pump, the axial force compensation of the double-spiral swing hydraulic cylinder, and the five core technologies of the floating stator-type cycloidal motor have successfully developed a high-pressure-resistant underwater control computer. a distributed underwater control system was constituted, which lays the foundation for the new concept of distributed control of the research group, as a result, the dead zone of the underwater manipulator reduces to 38%, the wrist size was shortened by 2/3, the horizontal working capacity increased to 3 times. And the maximum drive capacity of the hydraulic oil source has increased by 30%.
The863 marine field detection and operation subject expert group leader, Zhejiang University visiting professor Ding Kang researcher, has been paying attention to this part of Zhejiang University. Over the years, Mr. Ding has been infecting the research team of Zhejiang University with his own words and deeds. At the moment, he is always "not faint and unassuming, not quiet." In this flashy era, he often has a normal heart and ten years of grinding. The sword will eventually test the edge. This sentence spurs itself, and always adheres to the working philosophy of “excluding luck, doing the worst, striving for the best results, not implementing without planning, and responding with feedback”.
ProfessorGu Linyi and his research team
Comprehensive testing of the laboratory is an important guarantee for the success of the sea trial. In the five stages of function realization, accuracy realization, reliability realization, durability realization, and dimensionality realization of each subsystem, a large number of oftest results are needed. However, the country’s investment is limited after all. To this end, Many departments, including ZhejiangUniversity Department of Mechanical Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems, National EngineeringLaboratory of Marine Engineering Equipment, Zhejiang UniversityIndustrial Technology Research Institute, Zhejiang Science andTechnology Department, Hangzhou City, Shangcheng District and other governments have donated and invested money more than 2 times of supporting funds generously. Shangcheng District of Hangzhou City also provided 1,000 square meters of experimental buildings and established a complete set of test systems and test standards. Without this dedicated test system, the sea trial cycle is at least doubled.
The"HaiMa" has also achieved fruitful results in terms of of universalization and industrialization. The remote-controlled underwater robot of Zhejiang University has expanded the "Hailuo"(HELLO) and the "Haizhou" (HYDRO) and the "Haiwang"( High-Work) three low-tonnage specifications, named after LuoGaosheng and Zhou Feng, who have made outstanding contributions to the research and development and industrialization of remote-controlled underwater robots. Among them, "Conch II"and import "Tiger" two-level remote observation of underwater robots formed the core of the "Zhejiang Yu-controlled underwater salvage team" public interest organizations, helped the police of Hangzhou, Wuhan, Texas find three victims of the murder and sinking corpse in the beach pit reservoir, the Han River and the Weihe River.
At the same time of industrialization, the “HaiMa” team of Zhejiang University also paid special attention to the formulation of national standards and the construction of third-party testing capabilities. Team not only presided over the national standard remote underwater robot manipulator hydraulic system and setting work, as deputy head of the unit, also participated in remote underwater robot machine GB formulation (designated head of the school is built boat College "Dragon No." Shanghai JiaotongUniversity remote control The underwater robot team), in addition, combined with the Zhejiang Institute of Metrology, the “ZhejiangMarine Products Metrology and Testing Center” was established, aiming to strictly control the quality of the remote control underwater robot according to national standards.
This trial is not the end of the work, but the beginning of the work. The road behind the "HaiMa" is still very long. We will continue to unite around the "HaiMa" campus team which take the Guanghai Bureau as the core, ensuring the production and application, finally realizing the universalization and industrialization of the remotely controlled underwater robots at the Zhejiang University's achievement transformation base. Keep in mind that we should spare no efforts to the operation and maintenance ofthe "Hai Ma" in the future, or the industrialization of the results.
