The DRDO tested a land-based prototype of an Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) submarine at the Naval Materials Research Laboratory in Ambernath, Maharashtra. The land-based prototype was engineered to the form-and-fit of a submarine.
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Submarines are essentially of two types: conventional and nuclear.
Conventional submarines use a diesel-electric engine, and must surface daily for oxygen for fuel combustion. If fitted with an Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) system, the submarine needs to take in oxygen only once a week.
In a fuel cell AIP, an electrolytic fuel cell releases energy by combining hydrogen and oxygen, with only water as the waste product. The cells are highly efficient, and do not have moving parts, thus ensuring that the submarine has a low acoustic signature.
A fuel cell-based AIP, like the one developed by DRDO, is known to deliver better performance compared to other technologies.
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