Page 45: of Marine Technology Magazine (September 2022)

Courtesy Bramble Energy

ACUA OCEAN

ACUA Ocean has received DfT funding through Innovate

UK to build a hydrogen powered USV (H-USV) for long en- durance operations, as part of swarm operations at sea.

It completed work on the subsystems and has plans to launch a prototype to be named Ocean Protector and perform site ac- ceptance testing in 2023, followed by swarm demonstrations in 2024 and swarm deployments in 2025. The vessel is being developed in collaboration with local naval architecture ? rm

Ad Hoc Marine Designs and features a small waterplane area twin hull for stability (SWATH).

ACUA Ocean is targeting up to 60-day deployments while operating at four knots, though it says a peak speed of 18 knots can be achieved for monitoring and interceptions, using liquid hydrogen fuel capacity of 6,000 litres.

The ACUA Ocean design has received approval in principle (AIP) from classi? cation society Lloyd’s Register for its hy- drogen system, its control engineering system, and its electri- cal power distribution systems, following the factory accep- tance testing of the prototype systems undertaken in March this year.

The prototype is being built by a consortium of UK ship- builders, with ship? tting and electrical out? tting contracts being awarded to Lowestoft-based ? rms SMS and Trident

Bramble Energy Liquid Cooled Fuel Cell Stack.

Marine Electrical, while the hydrogen fuel cell is being devel- oped by Proton Motors.

The vessel’s name commemorates the Tyne pilot cutter, the

Protector, which was sunk after hitting a German sea mine during World War I, with the loss of all nineteen crew mem- bers, including William Hopper Tinmouth, the great great grandfather of the founders of ACUA Ocean.

ACUA

Ocean’s

H-USV.

Courtesy ACUA Ocean www.marinetechnologynews.com 45

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