Rudder / stern plane trim control system

Submarine - Mobility

The rudder & stern plane of a submarine (in the schematic below configured in “X”) determine its navigation characteristics and the actions on the piloting console: orders to dive, surface, turn or combine motions are transmitted to the rudder / stern plane control system, which then converts these orders into hydraulic power generation and actions on the jacks through servovalves, thus accomplishing automatically the given instruction.

This system receives direct instructions from the piloting console to orientate the rudder & stern plane with precise angles. The system then converts these instructions into precise & controlled jack motions acting directly on the fins.

The control cabinets drive the converters supplied in electric power by the submarine batteries. The converters drive the electric-motor’s speed and generate hydraulic pressure using the pump fitted on the electric motor. This pressure is then controlled by the servovalves, piloted themselves by the control cabinet in order to drive this pressure into the jacks moving them accordingly. The motions of the jacks are controlled by sensors which send back the information to the control cabinet. This creates a control/command loop supervised by the control cabinet in real time which checks if the command on the converters & servolvalves has the desired effect on the jacks, and adjust if needed.