Amphibious Army Surveillance Vehicle

Siddhartha. E
Vinod Kumar.V
Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering, Guindy,
Chennai

ABSTRACT
In the contemporary world the impact of technology is more profound than ever
before. Man has always had the thirst of exploring, exploiting and creating new
things. The field of submarine technology is no exception to this. In army
submarines locates, identifies and retrieves objects such as downed aircraft,
mines, torpedoes or bombs etc.. This paper deals with an indigenous design of an
amphibious vehicle, which can move both on land and water. Obviously, our main
focus has been the safety of the crew. This design also eliminates the difficulty in
controlling an air-cushioned vehicle on the land surface, as we have incorporated
the use of steel belts as used in army tanks.

INTRODUCTION
The main aim of this paper is to develop a under water surveillance vehicle which
can move both on land and water in a compact design form. The design
incorporates various mechanisms for power transmission, navigational
equipments, safety equipments and the changeover mechanisms that is used to
run the vehicle on land. This submarine is also designed for aerodynamic shape in
order to avoid drag resistance.
Other interesting features of the vehicle include:
1) Recharging of the battery by solar panels.
2) Detachable capsule (control room) of the submarine in case of any disaster.
3) Utilization of conveyor belts for greater maneuver over the land surface.
4) Retractable hood for capsule for avoiding direct hit with any hard element
under water.
LAYOUT OF THE VEHICLE

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 Fig 1. the outer view of the amphibious submarine
The major components (Fig 2) of the vehicle are :-

Fig.2 Layout of the Submarine - inside

BALLAST TANK:
The ballast tank is a storage tank that is full of air when the vehicle is on the
surface of the water and it is full of water when the vehicle is fully submerged.
There are two ballast tanks on the either side of the capsule. The water is forced
into the ballast tank by means of compressed air supply stored in one of the tanks
and the exhaust gases from the IC engine which would be stored in a separate
tank.
PROPELLER:
The propeller moves the vehicle forward when the vehicle is on the surface of the
water and when moving under water. The propeller receives power from an IC

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engine. The propeller used here is a controllable pitch propeller. This propeller
improves efficiency at off-design conditions (i.e.,) at high load conditions. This
allows the pitch to be increased under high loads and offers compact and highly
responsive means of reversing thrust.
STORAGE TANKS:
There are three types of storage tanks. They are
Air tanks:
The air tanks are used for storing atmospheric air in order to supply it to the
ballast tank whenever the vehicle is to reach the surface. There are totally four
air tanks. One of the air tanks is used to force the water out of the ballast tank.
The second tank supplies air that is required for the combustion of the fuel. The
third air tank is used for storing exhaust gases from the engine. The other tank
remains empty when the vehicle is under the sea and is charged by a compressor
whenever the vehicle surfaces on the sea. This serves for safety purpose in case
if there is leakage on the other cylinders.
Fuel tank :
The fuel tank is used for the storage of the diesel oil, which is the fuel for the IC
engine. The amount of the diesel depends on the total time of travel in the
submarine.
Oxygen tanks:
Oxygen tanks are used for the life support inside the submarine. The amount of
oxygen or the volume of the oxygen depends on the allowance of one cubic foot
per man per hour. It is carried as a compressed gas in flasks at 1500psi.
CAPSULE:
The capsule is the control room of the submarine which can incorporate two
members. It also consists of the equipments necessary for controlling the
submarines movements, for sending signals to the transponder and other
important equipments such as clutch engaging and disengaging mechanisms etc.,
The capsule is a detachable one so that it helps in the rescue of the people in
case of disaster.
THRUST REVERSERS:
The thrust reversers are devices that affect the turning of the ship to the right or
left. The thrust reversers are small propellers that receive power from the ic
engine by engaging a clutch. There are two thrust reversers attached on the
either side of the submarine.
MOVEMENT ON THE LAND-MECHANISM
The main design (Fig 3) and (Fig 4) for the movement on land has two conveyor
belts, which is driven by the propeller shaft through bevel gears. These bevel
gears can be made to mesh with the propeller shaft through a clutch. The power
from the bevel gears is transmitted to the gear of the conveyor belt by means of a
chain. The shafts which drive the conveyor belt are housed in bearings which are
fixed to a platform. This platform can be lowered or raised manually by the crew.
The position of the belts before use is shown in the first diagram. They do not
touch the surface. The main reason for going for these belts is that there is no
proper maneuverability in hovercrafts which move on land. Negotiating a turn in a
hovercraft is not easy and any puncture tear in this hovercraft rubber tube will

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prove disastrous. Hence in our design (Fig 3), the base has a number of rubber
tubes arranged in a concentric form so that even if there is a puncture in one of
the tubes it would not affect the vehicles movement. The rubber tubes are
initially concealed at the bottom of the vehicle (Fig 5). When the need arises the
rubber tubes are inflated with the air from the air tanks. This makes the entire
vehicle to be supported on the raised rubber tubes. When the vehicle reaches the
land the platform having the conveyor belt is lowered. Now the clutch is used to
derive the power from the propeller shaft to the conveyor belts. This facilitates
the crew to have a good control over the surface even when plying over soft sand
because of the rubber tubes which would have got struck up otherwise. There are
two conveyor belts and when it is necessary to negotiate a turn, say to the right
then the clutch to the right end conveyor belts is disengaged so that the rotary
motion is cut off. Now brake is applied simultaneously to the conveyor belt at the
right while the conveyor belt at the left is still rotating which turns the whole
system to the right. Again when the vehicle is entering the sea, the platform
is raised and the air in the tubes is emptied.

Fig. 3 The mechanism for motion on land

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 Fig 4. A conceptual model of the mechanism using CATIA

Fig 5. The working of the mechanism

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
The overall cost of the vehicle that we have designed comes to about 10 lakh
rupees. We have taken the approximate cost in each component of our design.
CONCLUSION
No matter what the advancement arises in the field of science or technology,
nothing can compensate the most desired possession LIFE. Technology and
safety must develop in a parallel fashion. After all we develop new technologies to
survive in this ever changing world. The chances of a war breaking out any
second has pushed humans to the limit in finding new ways for surveillance. Our
design makes use of the technologies available to bring out this design of an
amphibious vehicle.

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