Patent ID: 9315250
Filing Date: 2016-04-19
CPC Classification: B63H

Claim Text:
1. A post-swirl propulsor system for maneuvering an underwater vehicle, said post-swirl propulsor system comprising: a rotor positioned on an exterior circumference of the vehicle; a plurality of stator blades positioned on the exterior circumference downstream of said rotor with each of said blades including a shaft extending into an interior of the vehicle, wherein a pitch angle of said stator blades can vary about the circumference of the vehicle; a plurality of servo-motors interior to the vehicle with each servo-motor connected to each said stator blade by a movement of an actuator arm on the shaft of said stator blade; a controller operationally connected to said servo-motors wherein said controller coordinates the actions of said servo-motors with a result of the pitch angle of each said stator blade being separately adjustable by actuation of said servo-motor by said controller wherein the movement of the actuator arm engages the shaft to rotate said stator blade for an adjusted pitch angle; and a protective shroud extending about said rotor; wherein a thrust flow from said rotor is capable of combining with a circumferentially varying flow from said stator blades to produce a stator side force at varying angles to a longitudinal axis of the vehicle, the side force of said stators is inversely proportional to an advance ratio indicative of a forward distance generated thru a full rotation of said rotor where the advance ratio “J” is calculated from an equation J=V/nD where “V” is a flow velocity, “n” is a rotational velocity in Hz and “D” is a diameter of said rotor.