Air independent propulsion for submarines and other purposes
The "Walther propulsion", was the steam turbine, which was planned to use in type XXI type German submarines. That system used hydrogen peroxide and water to create the steam for the turbine, and the purpose of the system was to use this steam turbine in the underwater drive of the submarines. This is only one version of the "Air independent propulsion". (1)
The idea of "Walther engine" was not new, and in fact, it is used in every torpedo, what was created, and the system, what would be installed to the submarines would be larger, than the system, what was installed to the torpedoes, and for some reason the construction denied. The construction of the Walter turbine is always similar. There is a boiler, where the hydrogen peroxide or sulfur acid to water, and the pressure of steam would make the turbine rotating.
The success of the V-80 test submarine(2) and the impressive submerge speed 28 knots of that boat impressed Admiral Erich Raeder, but the main engineer of the German navy was not so confessed, and then the German navy built seven type XVII-type submarines(3), what was tested after the WWII in the U.S and British navies. The V-80 was not the first submarine, which used the air-independent propulsion system. The Spanish IctÃneo II used an air-independent steam engine in the year 1862, and in that pioneer submarine, those systems worked (4).
The two completed full-scale German combat test submarines (5) could reach up to 24 knots speed in the submerged, what was the worlds record. But there is another way to make chemical turbine, what can use in underwater conditions, and that thing is to connect the sulfur acid to the water and use the heat, what this reaction makes to rotate the turbines. This kind of system could also make enough pressure for a steam turbine, which can be used in underwater conditions.
But there is the thing, that people don't normally think and that thing is called the "W" turbine. (Normally "W"-turbine means wind turbine, but it might also mean hydrogen and oxygen burning turbine). In this case, the turbine would use hydrogen and oxygen as fuel. The waste of that reaction is water, and some engineers have planned to recycle that fuel. The submarine would burn hydrogen and oxygen in the turbine, and then that system would recycle water back to fuel.
The idea is that when oxygen and hydrogen would be produced by splitting the water molecules back to hydrogen and oxygen by using the chemical or physical method. The first one would require some chemicals like sodium, and the last one requires electrolysis. The electrolysis needs electricity.
One version is to put the wind generator to ship. Another way is to use the capillary effect, and that thing can be done by rising the tube to the surface, and then the rising water will rotate the generator. That electricity can be used in electrolysis equipment.
The idea of that system would be to create a hydrogen-burning submarine, which could use hydrogen and oxygen in the fuel cells when it must drive silently. When the submarine would need fast speed, the power source would be changed to the turbine and the idea is that there is no carbon waste in that kind of burning process. That keeps the electrodes of the fuel cells clean.
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