Lankan-built submarine for tourist activities
Ramani Kangaraarachchi
A young inventor of Sri Lanka Sudath Sunimal Perera has innovated a
concept of a submarine which is ideal to be built in Sri Lanka for
tourism activities with an affordable investment of Rs 4 million.
Perera who has already received four patents earlier for his
innovations told Daily News Business that Sri Lanka is a country famous
for underwater scenic beauty and whale watching in Trincomalee and it
has more than six coral reefs covering a sea area of about 306 square
kilometres.
These places include famous tourist areas such as Trincomalee,
Kirinda, Kalpitiya, Hikkaduwa and Bentota.
He hoped even submarine travel to explore underwater beauty and
whales will open a new industry drawing a huge amount of foreign
exchange and other benefits to the country.
Perera said the submarine which is being used now costs more than Rs
40 million with a crew capacity of only two compared with six for the
new concept. He is awaiting to receive the fifth patent for the new
concept and an investor partner to proceed with his innovation.
The proposed submarine can be launched using a very small pier used
for launching boats at present and the launching operation will be very
simple and needs only one person to assist by the pier side making the
facilitation of departure and arrival. It will need the services of a
Master who has the competence of a Deck Officer with a Class 3
Certificate and an electrical engineer to look into the affairs related
to preventive and corrective maintenance, he said.
Elaborating on the technical details of the concept Perera said the
length and width will be 21 and 5 feet respectively and is powered by a
battery bank. This submarine can be used to dive to about 300 feet of
depth, and the diving period will be about two hours. This low cost
technology provides many benefits to the submarine industry.
Perera can be contacted on
[email protected]
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