Jak kształt płetwy ogonowej wpływa na siłę ciągu pojazdu podwodnego z napędem falowym

In this article the authors present an unconventional design of an underwater vehicle with the so-called undulating propulsion which mimics the kinematics of a carp fish. Biomimetic vehicle propulsion system is the mechanical representation of a fish-tail and it is built as a three-segment linkage with elastic fin attached to the end of the last segment. Undulating tail section with oscillating lateral fins and the artificial swim baldder allows the vehicle for accurate imitation of movement of a real fish. As part of the development of the concept of biomimetic underwater vehicle, an intense research aimed at increasing the effectiveness of the proposed drive system are being carried out. In this paper, authors describe the next stage of the research aimed to identify the correct shape and dimensions of the tail fin from the point of view of maximum thrust generated by the propulsion system of the underwater vehicle with undulating propulsion called CyberFish version 5. During the experiment the thrust for several variants of the shape of the flexible tail fin was measured with pre-defined vehicle’s control parameters. The measurement results was then elaborated and analyzed. Finally the conclusions was drawn, and the directions for further work was set.