The main reason diesel submarines are generally regarded as the quietest military vessel in the ocean is because when running on batteries, they can switch of their regular diesel engines(the main source of noise on a vessel), thereby making practically no noise. This advantage can be extended by weeks by introducing AIP based on hydrogen fuel cells, which last much longer than conventional batteries.
So why not use them on surface ships? Fuel cell-based systems could be used in place of diesel motor-generator sets for both propulsion and power generation. Such a ship could at least cruise with negligible engine noise, and as a bonus a fair amount of space would be freed up in terms of storage space for diesel. Why hasn’t such a concept been tried yet?
By: Fedaykin - 7th August 2010 at 12:38
Really depends on what type of AIP system, it isn’t a universal technology.
I would think the fuel cell based solutions are probably the quietest with MEMSA being the noisest and Sterling cycle in the middle.
Then again they are probably no noiser then Nuclear and the latest SSN are quieter then the background noise of the sea.
By: Cuito - 6th August 2010 at 22:58
I’ve read that the AIP systems result in slightly more noise on subs. Does anyone know if this is true? And is it a significant amount of noise?
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August 6, 2010 at 10:37 pm