1. I. INTRODUCTION/ABSTRACT
II. PROCEDURE(S) / METHOD(S)
A. Equipment
1. Underwater Life-Support Systems: In this part we will discuss the necessary systems that
are required to maintain life in an underwater environment.
a. Air circulation system: About 70% of the air we breathe is wasted and thus re-
usable after the removal of wastes. To maximize its use underwater, carbon
dioxide and moisture will be removed by using sets of advanced filtering systems.
Enough emergency air supply will be provided to surface the vessel in case the
oxygen levels are low. The air we breathe consists of 78% Nitrogen, 21%
Oxygen, 0.94% Argon, and 0.04% Carbon Dioxide. The exhaled air which has
4.5% Carbon Dioxide will be re-used to certain limits. Such a feat is possible due
to the new filtering systems such as the ones used in the new scuba-diving gear.
b. Fresh Water Supply: Like the real submarines, fresh water will supply maintained
by the use of seawater . To provide the fresh water supply, the submarine will
have its own distillation plant that will take in seawater to produce fresh water by
evaporating it through a filtering system to remove the salts. The same process
can be used to generate electricity like most plants in the middle-east.
c. Temperature regulation: Through the use of electric heaters, the temperature can
be maintained since temperatures underwater can get very cold.
d. Emergency backup: Vessel will have an on-board emergency battery system
whose voltage is full in addition to fresh water tanks, which are completely filled.
2. Drive and backup systems:
a. Propulsion: The vessel will be propelled by the means of electric motors which
will move the propellers. The motors will be connected to main battery bank
which also provides the electricity for the whole liner..
b. Main Battery Bank: Electricity for the main battery bank will be supplied from
the distillation plants or in case of an emergency: it can be recharged by running
the two diesel engines. Should the main battery bank fails for any reason, there is
a set of emergency battery banks with enough power to operate and surface the
vessel safely.
c. Diesel Engines: The purpose of these engines is that it can either be used to
recharge both the main battery and emergency battery systems or act as a
2. secondary back-up to propel the vessel instead of the electric motors. Of course
they have limited fuel on-board and are used primarily for temporary/ emergency
situations.
3. Dive/surface systems: Because the vessel needs to achieve negative buoyancy in order to
dive, two-thirds of the vessel will consist of two layers which can be filled in with water
to submerge the vessel. This is achieved by a set of valves that are controlled to open and
close to let water in or out.To surface the vessel, water is forced out and the chambers
will be filled with compressed air from the air tanks which are built into the hull and
filled up before the vessel dives. Of course this is also true for all real submarines.
III. RESULTS / OBSERVATIONS
In this section are the plans for a prototype of this kind of vessel with a top view, side view, and
cross-section view:
4. Length: 350 meters
Width: 80 meters
Height: 40 meters
Costs:
Total projected building costs: $3,400,000,000 U.S Dollars
Projected Operating cost: (daily) $2,000,000 U.S Dollars
IV. DISCUSSION / CONCLUSION
In short, we would like to state that there has never been an attempt to create a vessel of this kind
with these dimensions and loading capacity before, therefore it is quite difficult to determine the
exact operating/ building costs for this project. However, if someone should decide to take on
this engineering challenge then he/she would own the world’s first, and one of the largest
commercial liner of its type in a class of its own. Including the use of some of the world’s most
advanced life-support technologies applied on a massive scale. Should this design ever be built,
we believe that not only would it be one of the most unique engineering accomplishments of this
century, but a glimpse of an era yet to come.
