As if straight from a sci fi story; a robotic underwater glider that keeps itself powered using the changes in the water temperature, while doing its job, searching for information related to ocean. In an ocean, the sun rays keep the water warm towards the top, making the layers cold as you keep going deep. A technique known as thermal stratification is used to convert heat into mechanical energy in this green robotic glider. The oceanic heat, heats the wax filled tubes of the glider, thereby expanding them. This expansion pushes oil, which is stored inside a bladder the vehicle, outside, affecting the buoyancy and helping the glider dive. The cycle gets complete when the wax cools and oil reaches the internal reservoir, making the glider rise.
The first green robotic vehicle prototype, it was tested in December 2007, by a research team led by oceanographers Dave Fratantoni of WHOI and Roy Watlington of the University of the Virgin Islands. The thermal glider has been traveling uninterrupted since then. A GPS system ensures it wouldn’t get lost. This thermal glider has now been deployed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Webb Research Corporation for marine research.
Via: Dvice
