Human-powered submarine breaks record for Plymouth University

A group of mechanical engineering students have achieved international success racing a pedal-powered submarine.

Stephen Tetlow, CEO of the Institution, recently visited Plymouth University to tour facilities and encourage a group of mechanical engineering students who have achieved international success racing a pedal-powered submarine.

Dr Keri Collins, project manager of the university’s human-powered submarine team, known as PULSE, was delighted to meet Stephen and show him her students’ fibre glass vessel during his tour. The facilities included a cutting edge Coastal Ocean and Sediment Transport (COAST) laboratory.

Stephen commented: “I was delighted to meet Dr Keri Collins and the team, and see the sub at close range.”

Plymouth was the top-ranked, UK university in the European International Submarine Race (eISR) in 2014. The sub reached 4.6 knots and students broke the UK record as they pedaled their way into third place.

The challenge, which tests participants’ engineering and sporting skills by tasking them with designing, building and then racing their submarine, was held at Europe’s largest freshwater tank – QinetiQ’s Ocean Basin in Gosport.



Since then, a new crop of BEng students has joined the team, while existing members are embarking on their Masters and the project is being integrated into other undergraduate modules as a teaching resource.

The team is now busy modifying the vessel in preparation for the International Submarine Race (ISR 13), held bi-annually at the NAVAL Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) – Carderock, Maryland.

Keri, a post-doctoral research fellow at the School of Marine Science and Engineering, said the scope of the project has attracted students at all stages of their courses, and integrated their learning and interaction with local businesses.

She added: “We decided to keep the design as simple as possible in our first year and we were rewarded with the prize for reliability. Our success would not have been possible without grants, and the collaboration of local businesses such as Babcock and Teignbridge Propellers, and especially GMD Eurotool Ltd which went out of its way to supply parts of the drive train.

“Getting support from experienced engineers at locally based businesses has been really important to us, and will continue to be as we develop our vessels. We are building on industry relationships all the time.



“We are upgrading the internal systems, keeping them mechanical, and so reliable, but swapping out some of the components which have corroded. Our major refit is to streamline the control surfaces, which should reduce drag. And we’re altering our hatch-closing mechanism, which malfunctioned in the former competition, adding significantly to our drag!

“We also have a dissertation project being undertaken, which is looking at variable pitch propellers. The effect will be similar to changing gear on a bicycle, particularly important for our acceleration from complete standstill, enhancing our efficiency. This may be operated by pre-set timer; manually operated by the pilot; or it could be fully automated, using sensors indicating speed and transmitting this to the propeller mechanism.

“The competition is more than allowing students to race submarines, it is a chance to guide them through the whole engineering process and to allow them to learn some very important lessons about co-operation, design and project planning, without the emphasis being on the sophistication of the technology,” Keri said.

Stephen concluded: “I really admire the students’ commitment and innovation and wish them well in their future underwater challenges.”