''Ictineu 3'' is a crewed

submersible A submersible is an underwater vehicle which needs to be transported and supported by a larger ship, watercraft or dock, platform. This distinguishes submersibles from submarines, which are self-supporting and capable of prolonged independent ope ...

capable of reaching depths of 1,200 m (3,900 ft), which makes it the ninth deepest

, owned by Ictineu submarins SL. Commissioned in 2013, the submersible can carry one pilot and two passengers for 10 hours using all the equipment. The small weight and dimensions of the submarine (4.8 x 1.9 x 3 m) allow the Ictineu 3 to be carried with a conventional truck without requiring special transportation. The main body is made of inox steel and, at the front, there is a large semi-spheric

acrylic glass Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a synthetic polymer derived from methyl methacrylate. It is a transparent thermoplastic, used as an engineering plastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and bran ...

viewport of 1,200 mm diameter that provides a wide field of view. There are four

brushless DC motors A brushless DC electric motor (BLDC), also known as an electronically commutated motor, is a synchronous motor using a direct current (DC) electric power supply. It uses an electronic controller to switch DC currents to the motor windings, p ...

for propulsion and four more for manoeuvring, powered by

li-ion batteries A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are characterized by higher specific energy, energy d ...

located outside the submersible for safety. Its applications range from submarine

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

to industrial work, and it is specially designed to be easy to adapt to new technology and equipment, having additional ports for wires, sensors and tools. It can also be equipped with a couple of

robotic arm A robotic arm is a type of mechanical arm, usually programmable, with similar functions to a human arm; the arm may be the sum total of the mechanism or may be part of a more complex robot. The links of such a manipulator are connected by join ...

s with seven

degrees of freedom In many scientific fields, the degrees of freedom of a system is the number of parameters of the system that may vary independently. For example, a point in the plane has two degrees of freedom for translation: its two coordinates; a non-infinite ...

to interact with the external environment. Ictineu 3 was finished in 2013 after 10 years of development and a 3 M€ budget acquired from

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...

, public subsidies and private investors. The name ''Ictineu 3'' pays tribute to the submarines Ictineo I and Ictineo II, developed by the Catalan submarine pioneer

Narcís Monturiol Narcís Monturiol i Estarriol (; 28 September 1819 – 6 September 1885) was a Spanish Catalan inventor, artist and engineer born in Figueres, Catalonia. He was the inventor of the first air-independent and combustion-engine-driven submarine. ...

during the 19th century.

Project

The project was originally pitched by the ''Associació Institut Centre Català de Recerca Submarina'' and registered in February 2006. The submersible was designed and built by ''Ictineu Submarins S.L.'' under the direction of engineers Pere Fornès and Carme Paradera. The construction began in a workshop provided by the

Maritime Museum of Barcelona The Maritime Museum of Barcelona (, MMB) is located in the building of '' Drassanes Reials de Barcelona'', the royal arsenal of Barcelona, dedicated to shipbuilding between the thirteenth century and eighteenth century. The first mention of thes ...

but was later moved to dedicated facilities acquired by the company in

Sant Feliu de Llobregat Sant Feliu de Llobregat () is an industrial city and municipality in Catalonia, Spain, in the province of Barcelona (province), Barcelona. It is the capital of the Comarques of Catalonia, comarca of Baix Llobregat, and the see of a Roman Catholic ...

. Germanischer Lloyd SE provided the necessary certification upon completion. The whole project was widely promoted and relied on

in order to reach the necessary goals. The starting petition was for €60,000 and the money was collected via Verkami.

References

External links

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The Ictineu 3 project: a modern manned submersible for scientific research and intervention
{{authority control Deep-submergence vehicles Bathyscaphes Ships built in Spain Submarines of Spain

Project

See also

References

External links