The scheme that the conventional submarine is equipped with "submarine charging treasure" is to deploy the auxiliary battery compartment on the conventional submarine by plugging in or dragging, thus greatly improving the underwater cruising distance and time of the submarine. In fact, for nuclear submarines, this kind of external auxiliary battery compartment also has certain application value. Many people may find it hard to accept the idea that the nuclear submarine itself has unlimited power, but now it has to be equipped with an auxiliary battery compartment. Isn't this unnecessary?
Assumption of adding conformal lithium battery compartment to conventional submarine
Imagine that the submarine is equipped with a towed lithium battery compartment.
In fact, nuclear submarines are not as perfect as everyone thinks, at least for now. Although nuclear submarines have great advantages over conventional diesel-electric submarines in power, they are not as good as conventional submarines in mute effect. Because nuclear submarines use high-temperature reactors to drive turbines to operate underwater, and then turbines drive generators, transmission shafts, propellers and other components to work, because many components on nuclear submarines are mechanically operated, all kinds of noises are not small. Although advanced nuclear submarines have reduced most of the mechanical noise through measures such as floating valve damping and active cancellation, the noise level is still relatively high compared with conventional submarines! Because the submarine is powered by batteries underwater and has no other mechanical equipment except propeller, under the same technical conditions, the conventional submarine is much quieter than the nuclear submarine. In fact, the mute effect of conventional submarines is indeed better than that of nuclear submarines: there are conventional submarines in China that often go in and out of the first island chain, but they are difficult to be detected by the anti-submarine systems of the United States and Japan except for floating on their own initiative. China's nuclear submarines are easily found by their opponents when they enter and leave the first island chain. From the early 09 1 to the recent hot 093B, it was tightly bitten by Japanese anti-submarine aircraft almost every time.
China 093 nuclear submarine is noisy and easy to be found when crossing the island chain. China 093 nuclear submarine is noisy and easy to be found when crossing the island chain.
In addition to being louder than conventional submarines, nuclear submarines also have a fatal weakness: strong thermal infrared signals. The nuclear submarine reactor releases a lot of heat when it works, so it needs a lot of cooling water. A part of cooling water will be regularly discharged from the boat, which will cause slight changes in seawater temperature within a certain range. If the opponent uses a highly sensitive thermal infrared detection system, he will be able to find submarines. The United States has disclosed that its marine reconnaissance satellite found the Russian Akula attack type: once an American satellite found abnormal thermal infrared signals on the sea about 100 km behind the Japanese fleet from time to time. According to the comparison between the previous infrared database and the US military, it was determined that the Russian Akula-class nuclear submarine was tracking the Japanese fleet. According to the information obtained by American satellites, the Japanese fleet conducted an anti-submarine search and finally confirmed that it was indeed a Russian nuclear submarine. It can be seen from this example that the thermal infrared signal of a nuclear submarine is sometimes more dangerous than its underwater noise.
Acura-class nuclear submarines are exposed due to strong thermal infrared signals.
In view of the problems existing in nuclear submarines, some improvement schemes are also put forward, one of which is to install a large number of lithium batteries inside the nuclear submarines, so that the reactors of nuclear submarines only need to be started intermittently to charge the lithium batteries, because in most cases, the lithium batteries can provide quiet power for nuclear submarines and will not produce waste heat that needs to be discharged outside the boat. However, this scheme also faces two problems: first, the submarine must be built very large and lead to a sharp increase in cost; Secondly, the safety of lithium batteries is poor. Once a fire breaks out, it will lead to disastrous consequences, which is obviously not worth taking such a big risk for nuclear submarines.
The concept of "submarine charging treasure" makes it possible for nuclear submarines to be equipped with a large number of lithium batteries: because this "submarine charging treasure" is only an external auxiliary battery compartment, the construction cost is relatively low. Although there are a lot of lithium batteries in it, this battery compartment is towed by a submarine or hung outside the boat. Under normal circumstances, the nuclear submarine reactor can be powered by the auxiliary battery compartment when it is running, and the battery compartment can provide propulsion power for the nuclear submarine after the reactor stops running; If the lithium battery catches fire and an accident occurs, the nuclear submarine only needs to abandon the auxiliary battery compartment, and the safety of the nuclear submarine itself will not be affected by the lithium battery accident.
094 equipped with external storage lithium battery cleaning tank 094 equipped with external storage lithium battery cleaning tank.
The British scheme proves that it is feasible to hang a large battery compartment on a nuclear submarine.
Once the external lithium battery compartment catches fire and throws it away, it will be fine.
China missile nuclear submarine can throw away the lithium battery compartment in an emergency, and China missile nuclear submarine can throw away the lithium battery compartment in an emergency.
Take the 094 missile nuclear submarine in active service in China as an example. Its underwater machinery is noisy. Even in the South China Sea of China, it is easy to be tracked by silent nuclear submarines such as "Sea Wolf Class" and "Virginia" of the United States, and its cooling water is also easy to be found by American reconnaissance satellites. If the auxiliary lithium battery compartment with a displacement of about1.500-2,000 tons is externally installed on the left and right sides of the 094 missile nuclear submarine, the situation will change immediately: the nuclear reactor of the 094 submarine can fully charge the auxiliary lithium battery compartment in only 4-6 hours, and then the lithium battery can make the submarine dive about 500 nautical miles at a low speed of 3 knots, and the underwater latency can reach 10 day. During this time, the reactor of 094 was kept in a hot shutdown state, and there was no large mechanical equipment running except propeller submarine, which could reach the same quiet level as conventional submarine; At the same time, because the reactor is in a hot stop state, the submarine will not discharge residual heat, and enemy satellites and aircraft cannot find the Type 094 submarine with thermal infrared detection equipment. In this way, even if the US military sends a large number of attack nuclear submarines into the South China Sea, it cannot lock the trace of the 094 nuclear submarine; With the help of the power provided by the auxiliary lithium battery compartment, the 094 nuclear submarine can quietly cross the highly concerned waterways such as Miyako Strait and bashi channel when the reactor is shut down, and enter the vast Pacific Ocean for strategic patrol, thus making the enemy even more untraceable. However, it is difficult to remain hidden when crossing the first island chain of underwater noise 094 at present.
The external lithium battery compartment allows China submarine to pass through the island chain controlled by the enemy quietly, and also allows China submarine to pass through the island chain controlled by the enemy quietly.
China is developing and manufacturing a new generation of 096-class missile nuclear submarines, and may also consider keeping an external auxiliary battery compartment. Although it is speculated that the comprehensive noise reduction measures such as pump propulsion, floating valve damping and active cancellation have been adopted for the 096 nuclear submarine, it is necessary to equip the 096 nuclear submarine with an auxiliary battery compartment unless the underwater noise level is reduced to the same level as that of a conventional submarine and no cooling water is discharged during low-speed diving. For attack nuclear submarines such as 093 and 095, it is also very suitable to be equipped with an external conformal lithium battery compartment, so that when crossing narrow waterways and being tracked, the nuclear reactor can be shut down and keep the best silent state.
China missile nuclear submarine with external lithium battery compartment will become a deep-sea black hole, and China missile nuclear submarine with external lithium battery compartment will become a deep-sea black hole.
From a technical point of view, the Germans towed a large missile launching cabin with a U-boat as early as World War II, and Britain is now studying the plan of installing two special warfare submarines to attack nuclear submarines, so there is no technical difficulty in towing the auxiliary battery cabin or the external battery cabin in China. If China decides to push this plan forward, in the near future, all kinds of nuclear submarines in China will be able to enter and leave the ocean quietly with auxiliary battery compartments, becoming deep-sea black holes, and it will be difficult to reproduce the incident that the US-Japan anti-submarine aircraft chased the Japanese nuclear submarines near the first island chain.