Air-Independent Power Plants for Marine Vehicles

Abstract

In this paper, we review modern developments of air-independent power plants (AIPPs) for the world submarine fleet. Equipping nonnuclear submarines with such plants is shown to be the main trend in modern shipbuilding. It can be predicted that submarines with AIPPs will almost completely occupy this niche of world shipbuilding by 2030. The most widespread at present are AIPPs based on fuel cells and Stirling engines. In the near future, electrochemical generators with better energy efficiency (power, efficiency) and stealth indicators (noise, thermal fields, and other unmasking factors) will remain the main types of AIPPs. The level of technology that has been achieved allows the creation of promising power plants based on solid-oxide fuel cells that will have significant advantages over diesel generators, which opens up prospects for their use in surface and submarine shipbuilding, in civil shipbuilding, and in other types of vehicles.