Module d'Energie Sous-Marin Autonome

Module d'Energie Sous-Marin Autonome ( MESMA ) is an air-independent propulsion system developed in France for non-nuclear submarines .

The system mainly consists of a steam turbine . Ethanol is used as fuel . The oxygen required for combustion is stored in liquid form in high-pressure tanks . In contrast to the Walter drive, the turbine does not act directly on the drive shaft , but drives an electric generator . The drive power is transmitted to the propeller with the help of an electric motor . The mechanical decoupling serves to reduce noise and allows greater design freedom when placing the turbine in the pressure hull of the submarine. With this drive concept, a submerged Agosta class submarine can travel three to four times further than with conventional lead-acid batteries .

Development of the project began in the early 1980s. The system has been used on at least one Pakistani Agosta boat since the late 1990s . Since the French Navy only uses nuclear submarines , the MESMA system was never used in French military submarines . A variant with a MESMA drive is available from the Scorpène class developed jointly with Spain for export .

See also

• Hybrid drive
• Circulatory drive
• Fuel cell drive
• Stirling engine

Web links

• http://zone.sousmarins.free.fr/ - Text about air-independent actuators with a block diagram of the MESMA system ( French )

literature

• Anthony Preston: The history of the submarines , Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen, German edition 1998, ISBN 3-86070-697-7
• Werner Globke (Ed.): Weyers Flottentaschenbuch / Warships of the World - Fleet Handbook , Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn, 66th year 2005-2007, ISBN 3-7637-4517-3