| 摘要 |
<p>An underwater buoy system is disclosed. The system comprises a docking station (10) arranged to receive a buoy (14), and a reservoir (20) of gas under pressure with a first controllable valve (24) operable to release gas from the reservoir selectively. A buoy is received by the docking station and has a flotation chamber enabling the buoy to be rendered positively buoyant by gas released from the reservoir so that it ascends. The buoy has a second controllable valve (52) for venting gas from the flotation chamber to render the buoy negatively buoyant so that it sinks, and a retraction mechanism (35) having a line attached to the buoy and which is arranged to pay out line as the buoy ascends and to retract the line when the buoy sinks. A control system (48) actuates the first controllable valve at predetermined intervals or when sensor data is received which meets or exceeds a predetermined value. The second valve is typically actuated after a predetermined time, sufficient to allow the buoy to transmit data to a monitoring station.</p> |
