Major Components of a Typical Tourist Submarine

  • Ballast Controls - used to control both soft and hard ballast for the submarine
  • Hard Ballast Controls - used to control hard ballast water that is used to adjust bouyancy of the submarine at depth
  • Soft Ballast Tank - used on the surface of the water to provide sufficient bouyancy to lift the submarine out of the water to provide vertical clearance for the entry hatches and therefore safe egress and ingress for crew/passengers. Soft ballast tank air open at the bottom to vent excess air if over-ballasted.
  • Life Support Controls -
  • Penetrator Plate - a specially designed plate with multiple water tight openings that allow electrical and high pressure lines to pass from the exterior of the submarine to the cabin/pilot station.
  • Oxygen Bottle - high pressure, pure oxygen to supply the the life support system. Note that the occupants are not supplied with compressed air but pure oxygen that is scrubbed clean of CO2.
  • Compressed Air Bottle - high air utilized for soft ballast pressurization
  • CO2 Scrubber - vital life system component that removes carbon dioxide from the interior. Simply a blower with SodaSorb that removes CO2.
  • Manual CO scrubber
  • BIBs - Built in Breathing System used in the event of contaminated air or prior to escape from submersible. Emergency only.
  • Horizontal Thrusters - to provide horizontal movement or in combination with other thruster for 3D movement of the submarine
  • Vertical Thrusters - to provide vertical movement. Tourist submarines are always operated with slight positive bouyancy so that, on the event that ballast air is depleted the submarine would automatically rise to the surface as a safety precaution.
  • Hydraulic Jacking cylinder -
  • Vent Valve - valve which is controlled from the Pilot's station to release air in the soft ballast tanks to allow the submarine to dive.
  • Hatch - water-tight opening to allow passengers and crew to enter the submarine. Care should be exercised to avoid the hatch from closing unexpectedly as the hatch is very heavy. 
  • Brushless DC Motor - more efficient, quieter, less electrical interference and longer life compared to brushless motors 
  • Sail - the vertical component (usually fiberglass that prevent sea water from splashing into the open hatch during ingress and egress on the surface of the water
  • Emergency Drop Weight (not shown) - in the event that the submarine hard ballast system can not provide enough bouyancy or other emergency related to lack of lift, then  avery heavy lead drop weight can manually be deployed from within the cabin.