MUMBAI, India, Jan. 23 -- Intellectual Property India has published a patent application (202641001595 A) filed by National Institute Technology, Warangal, Telangana, on Jan. 7, for 'hydrodynamic rudder with leading-edge tubercles for submersible vehicles.'
Inventor(s) include Kethireddy Rama Krishna Reddy; Dr. Gangadharudu Talla; and Dr. Prasanth Anand Kumar Lam.
The application for the patent was published on Jan. 23, under issue no. 04/2026.
According to the abstract released by the Intellectual Property India: "A hydrodynamic rudder for submersible vehicles incorporating leading-edge tubercles to enhance manoeuvrability and hydrodynamic performance has been proposed as shown in figure-1. The rudder comprises a foil-shaped body with a NACA 0015 symmetrical airfoil cross-section and a thickness of 15% of the chord, featuring a circular leading edge that tapers toward the trailing edge with a taper ratio of 0.5. A plurality of tubercles integrated along the leading edge generates stable stream-wise vortices that energize the boundary layer, delay flow separation, and reduce turbulent kinetic energy. In preferred configurations, three tubercles (TBC 3) with an amplitude-to-chord ratio of 0.5 or five tubercles (TBC 5) with a ratio of 1 improve lift and reduce drag, with the TBC 5 design achieving a 15.74% drag reduction at a 20 angle of attack. The invention extends operational angle limits, improves steering efficiency, reduces turning radius, and lowers power requirements, thereby enhancing overall submersible vehicle performance."
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
