4-12-2006

ROV progress… This last week we haven’t had much, so we are meeting early this Wednesday. Last week several areas of our project were discussed and decided as a group. The frame design and thruster configuration was decided. We decided on using a 5 thruster design allowing us to use all four thrusters for horizontal travel. We still need to find the best way to control all thrusters in unison.

The frame will be constructed from 2’x3’x .33” HDPE plastic. The through hull for the 5th thruster will be made out of PVC piping. The thruster shrouds will be made of the same material. We have found a supplier who is willing to sell us materials at a discounted rate. For thruster motors we are going to use Mayfair 500 GPM bilge pumps donated to us by Greg at Johnson Pumps.

During lab we were able to test a gas RC propeller with a aluminum collar on a Mayfair 500 GPM pump to find out the amperage usage. In water testing has show that the untrimmed prop/motor combination uses about 12amps. Though there was high torque the RPM’s were too slow and next week we will test modified propellers with PVC shrouds to test for proper amperage draw.