Abengoa, an international company has signed a contract as technologist and main supplier of the AIP System for the S80 submarines with the Spanish public company that is a reference in the design and construction of high-technology ships, Navantia.
The propulsion system will allow the submarines to extend their missions thanks to the new function of recharging the batteries with the submerged submarine. Until now, non-nuclear submarines have used batteries in their propulsion systems that only allowed them to operate underwater for one or two days. Now, with the new AIP system, that period is extended to three weeks.
Specifically, the AIP System is composed of several main pieces of equipment: Bioethanol Processing System (BPS), Fuel Cell System (FCS), Power Adjustment System (PAS), CO2 Removal System (SECO2), and AIP Control System (SCAIP). Abengoa is responsible for the design, manufacture and validation of several of these main elements (SPB, SAP and SCAIP), as well as the integration of the SPC and SECO2 to guarantee the required performance, functionality and operation.
In order to meet the enormous demands required by this program, a multitude of challenges had to be overcome, taking the technology to new heights. An example of this can be seen in the SPB, not only for the efficiency, robustness and safety of the equipment, but also for having to meet the requirements in size and maintainability according to underwater applications.
The work, which was a technological challenge, was made possible thanks to the intense collaboration between the Ministry of Defense, Navantia and Abengoa.
This project represents a new milestone in Abengoa’s Defense activity and, in particular, for its Hydrogen program, on which Abengoa has been working for more than 15 years, and in which it currently has developments of different technologies to produce, store and use hydrogen in different fields.
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