Type 095 submarine

CCTV-4. a 27-min program with Eng-sub

Type 095 nuclear submarine is (or will pretty soon be) using the shaftless drive technology in conjunction with the IPS (integrated electric propulsion) technology.

According to Ma Weiming during the Congress meeting interview, Type-095/096 SSN/SSBN's propulsion system will be a generation ahead of the next gen US SSN/SSBN.

The research and development of this nuclear submarine took five years, and used shaftless drive technology, which is believed to be the Type 095 nuclear submarine. Military experts have said that shaftless drive technology stopped using traditional mechanical propulsion shafts, and instead used an IPS (integrated electric propulsion). Traditional mechanical propulsion shafts occupy at least 50% of the length of a submarine and will produce large amounts of noise.

Shaftless drive technology is a revolutionary technology that saves a great deal of space in submarines and reduces up to 10% of noise. This has also led to the level of quietness in China's submarines surpassing the US and Russia.

The key is that the IPS can reduce noise. If this system is completely simplified, then whether they are submarines or surface vessels, their sonar signal underwater will be reduced to a very low level. If the enemies carry out a torpedo attack on all sorts of anti-submarine targets, they might not be able to acquire a target as easily as before, so if you analyze it from these perspectives, the IPS has a very large difference from systems of the past.

Noise level.
The noise of a submarine usually comes from the submarine's engine compartment and the mechanical structure of the submarine, including noise emitted by nuclear reactors, motors and conventional propulsion devices. One of the world's mainstream nuclear submarines such as Ohio, Seawolf, Borey class, Akula class noise level is generally 110 dB to 100 db.

noise level there is a common saying in the world, is the submarine static noise coefficient is reduced by 6 dB per can let the submarine detection distance is shortened to half. That is to say, the submarine's noise level is just like the stealth performance between the nuclear submarine and the nuclear submarine. If the noise coefficient is low enough to match the background noise of the sea, the submarine will become a "ghost" in the passive sonar system. 

in order to improve the submarine mute coefficient, generally adopted a "cut", which is installed in the active silencer and change the internal structure and the replacement of quieter equipment. This method is also adopted by countries in the study of a new generation of submarines. 

The third-generation nuclear submarines headed by 095 and 096. The improvement of the nuclear submarine in mute system mainly includes these aspects: the new reactor system, the shaftless pump propulsion system, the IPS ship integrated power system and the IEP electric propulsion system.

On the reactor, the third generation nuclear submarine uses the fourth generation cold nuclear reactor. This cold nuclear reactor has a lower operating temperature than the previous reactor, which can effectively reduce the loss of heat and the consumption of the cooling system. On this basis, the fourth generation cold nuclear reactors are smaller, more power, and are designed independently and safer. 

The previous ship is used by the host of the spindle drive the propeller system, it will make the submarine vibration noise in the process of moving, and the use of a large number of host power in the process of using, the submarine during use while facing two different structures. IPS integrated power system is all the energy into the internal system of whole ship electric system, both the radar and sonar system or use electric propulsion system. At the same time the reactor produces all power into electricity, the power utilization circuit system assigned to the ship, reduce mechanical failure and improves the mute capability of the submarine. 

IEP system is to use the IPS power system, the traditional host drive shaft into a host power driven tail motor, reduce the overall energy loss but also can increase the output power of the motor. This also facilitates the breakthroughs of the submarine's maximum underwater speed.
shaft free pump system is a more "science fiction" design. The pump system refers to the use of a conventional propeller system to wrap it up and push forward with the pressure of the blade.

The annular duct can effectively reduce the noise generated by the propeller rotation and improve the diversion effect, but it is still a motor axis propeller on the whole. The shaftless pump propulsion system improves the motor shaft propulsion to pure blade propulsion, and spreads the blades to the inside of the pipe. It uses the motor inside the pipe to drive the inner blades of the whole pipe to rotate, reducing the natural vibration of the shaft system, and further reducing the noise coefficient.





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