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An Overview of Underwater Connectors
| Content Provider | MDPI |
|---|---|
| Author | Song, Wentao Cui, Weicheng |
| Copyright Year | 2021 |
| Description | Underwater connectors are very essential and complex components of deep-sea engineering equipment and their design and manufacture have apparent multidisciplinary characteristics. Wet-mateable connectors (WMCs) represent the highest level of technology in this field, and only a very few countries in the world can produce WMCs. So, WMCs are likely to be a constraining factor to some maritime powers that might try to achieve breakthroughs in this field, constraining the innovation-driven development of deep-sea equipment. This paper gives a detailed overview of underwater connectors, both electrical and optical. First, the background of underwater connectors is introduced, and then the main available commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products are described. Next, the new concept of functional units is proposed by the authors to help readers to have a better understanding of underwater connectors. Then, the basic theories of design are introduced according to different functional units, covering the aspects of electrical/optical connection, pressure-balanced oil-filled (PBOF) technology, penetrable self-sealing, aligning and locking structures. Finally, some discussions and conclusions are presented. This paper aims to reveal the secrets of key technologies used in underwater connectors, especially in WMCs. |
| Starting Page | 813 |
| e-ISSN | 20771312 |
| DOI | 10.3390/jmse9080813 |
| Journal | Journal of Marine Science and Engineering |
| Issue Number | 8 |
| Volume Number | 9 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | MDPI |
| Publisher Date | 2021-07-27 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Journal of Marine Science and Engineering Marine Engineering Underwater Wet-mateable Connectors Pressure-balanced Penetrable Self-sealing |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |