A CONCEPT FOR A REMOTELY INTERROGATED 
SYNOPTIC OCEANOGRAPHIC DATA SAMPLING BUOY 
by RICHARD A. ZLOTKY, Project Engineer 
Chance Vought Corporation 
Dallas, Texas 
ABSTRACT 
A concept is proposed for a remotely inter- 
rogated synoptic oceanographic data sampling 
buoy system. It is an anchored system capable 
of sampling oceanographic data from the ocean 
surface to a depth of approximately 4,000 feet. 
An electro-mechanical system that converts 
ocean wave energy into electrical power is dis- 
cussed. It is this power generator that makes 
the proposed long life buoy concept feasible. 
INTRODUCTION 
Chance Vought Corporation, in its effort 
to develop more effective ASW systems, realizes 
the necessity for more knowledge about the 
ocean environment than is presently available. 
Synoptic conditions in the sea must be known 
before ASW prediction systems become success- 
ful, and before ASW acoustic techniques 
become reliable. As a result of this need, 
Chance Vought Corporation has examined the 
feasibility of providing a long life buoy to 
be deployed in large areas of the ocean. The 
proposed concept can sample and store data, 
and can be interrogated by an airplane, ship 
or shore station. 
GENERAL ARRANGEMENT 
The general arrangement of the buoy system 
is shown in Figure 1. The Company name for 
the buoy is TELME which stands for TELemetered 
Medium Environment. The buoy consists of a 
power generator system called MECH-CON-SEA 
which stands for MECHanical CONversion of SEA 
power, an equipment buoy, a bobbing buoy and a 
taut line anchoring system. The equipment buoy 
houses the main batteries, power generator, 
recording equipment, transmitter and receiver. 
The bobbing buoy houses a small battery supply, 
buoyancy cycle control system sensors, and tape 
recorder. The equipment buoy is located ap- 
proximately 50 ft. below the sea surface and 
the bobbing buoy rides the anchor cable from 4 
depth of 50 ft. to approximately 4,000 ft. 
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CYCLE DESCRIPTION 
The cycle description is shown in Figure 2. 
The first phase consists of a three hour period 
for charging the batteries in both the equip- 
ment buoy and bobbing buoy. The main batteries 
are charged by the MECH-CON-SEA power generator 
and the bobbing buoy batteries are charged by 
the main batteries. In the second phase, the 
buoyancy of the bobbing buoy is changed from 
plus 5 lb. to minus 5 lb. During this 6 minute 
period the electronic equipment is given suf- 
ficient time to warm-up. During the third 
phase the bobbing buoy descends to a depth of 
4,000 ft. while data is being sampled and re- 
corded. The descent velocity is approximately 
4 ft. per second which precludes instrument 
sensing lag time if data is sampled approxi- 
mately once per second. The buoyancy change 
from minus 5 1b. to plus 5 lb. takes place dur- 
ing the 6 minute fourth phase and the buoy makes 
the 16 minute ascent back to the equipment buoy. 
The data recorded during the bobbing buoy des- 
cent and ascent is transferred to the equipment 
buoy whereby the bobbing buoy tape recorder is 
erased. All data is stored by the equipment 
buoy tape recorder until it is interrogated. 
Upon a successful data transmission, the equip- 
ment buoy tape recorder is given an erase com- 
mand. 
MECH-CON-SEA POWER GENERATOR 
The MECH-CON-SEA power generator operates on 
the principle of obtaining maximum relative 
motion between the float and cable reel shown in 
Figure 3. Maximum relative motion is obtained 
by utilizing the taut wire plus a large trapped 
water mass in the lower compartment of the 
equipment buoy. The trapped water mass minimizes 
the tendency of the equipment buoy to rise along 
with the float. Energy is put into the power 
accumulator spring on the float upstroke only. 
The cable is rewound by the reel rewind spring 
as the float falls. The stored energy in the 
power accumulator spring is released through a 
gear box, A.C. generator, and a rectifier and 
regulator. 
