IEEE Spectrum September 3, 2020
Many of the robotic gliders and floating sensor stations currently monitoring the world’s oceans are effectively treated as disposable devices. A team of researchers in the US is developing an underwater recharging station for oceangoing drones incorporating self-insulating electrical connector capable of operating while the powered electrical contacts are submerged. They tap phase change caused by the temperature differences between warmer water at the ocean surface and colder water at the ocean depths to generate electricity. By attaching an external energy-harvesting module they have transformed robotic probes into assets that can be recharged and reused more affordably. This renewable energy approach could keep such drones going almost indefinitely barring electrical or mechanical failures. The technology has applications in underwater farms, seabed surveys for deep sea mining ventures…read more.
Credit: Seatrec