Unmanned surface vessel for monitoring and recovering of spilled oil on water

This paper proposes a solution for recovery of spilled oil on dangerous water area with an Unmanned Surface Vehicle(USV). A Dynamic Inclined Plane Skimmer(DIPS) is placed on the front deck of the USV so that it can run to the destination at high speed. For automatic deployment of the DIPS onto the water, a mechanism consisting of two pillars fixed on each side of the front deck, a portal-type frame joined to the pillars by hinges and two wire ropes is designed. The DIPS and the mechanism are driven by hydraulic power from a pump geared to the engine, and controlled by proportional valves. The remote control system of the USV is based on a wireless LAN to guarantee real-time transmission of 8 channels of video, the command instructions and state data of the USV as well as the spilled oil recovery system. Experiments on water show that the solution is applicable.