ROV for college project

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bigdavevw
Posts: 22
Joined: May 7th, 2012, 12:40 pm

ROV for college project

Post by bigdavevw »

Hello!

I am building an ROV for my graded unit at college.

The specs/features I would like on the ROV are;

33m tether
Raspberry Pi Noir infra red control camera to surface
Dazzne P3 HD action cam
4 Rule bilge pumps with props
Laptop displaying video feed from Pi Noir
Homemade lithium ion battery pack
Adjustable buoyancy using bicycle inner tubes
Depth indicator
Otterbox 3250 for electrical items

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I started this project years ago, but didn,t understand much about electricity so it went in the loft. Now i,m studying a degree in electrical engineering and I would like to finish this as my project. The ROV will be used to explore flooded mine workings, this will be used for my hobby (mine exploring).
I would like the ROV to have a 33m tether, I will be buying 3 100m rolls of 1.6mm CSA single core wires for the thrusters.

I have lots of questions to ask, mainly regarding the drive system.

I,m going to use 4 thrusters, 2 forwards/back, 1 to point the nose up or down, and one on the nose to turn left or right. Is this a good way to control it?

I am worried about volt drop on the Noir camera over the 33m, so I,m wondering if I should have the Pi on the surface and extend the wires to the camera, or have the Pi underwater and send the signal up the wire to the surface?

If I have 4 thrusters, controlled by 4 DPDT switches would that mean I need 8 wires? Can I share a common earth?

The Pi NOir has its own IR lights built in, I was thinking of also fitting a seperate IR light from a security light to provide additional light whilst underground, would this help visibility?


Thats all the questions I have... for now 8-)

Any info greatly appreciated!

Dave
bigdavevw
Posts: 22
Joined: May 7th, 2012, 12:40 pm

Re: ROV for college project

Post by bigdavevw »

Hi, I have made a few alterations to the design of my ROV. It will now be running relays rather than DPDT switches. I will be using Steve,s guide for this!

The tether will be 29m, as I can only find 3/8th hollow braided rope in 30m lengths here in the UK.
The Raspberry Pi and other electrical parts will be kept inside 110mm soil pipe with one glued in cap and a screw in cap. This should be enough to handle 3bar
Skids will be attached underneath the ROV and will contain two lengths of M10 threaded rod with washers which can be adjusted to suit bouyancy.
I will be using an Adafruit MMA8451 accelerometer, and hopefully a depth sensor if I can find one suitable (The ones for the Pi aren,t waterproof)
The ROV will be controlled using a USB joystick.

I am considering controlling it through the Pi, and writing some code, but I have never done this. Can anyone give me any pointers on this?

The other option for control would be using the Pi purely for the sensors/camera and using the joystick to control the ROV directly.

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User avatar
TigerShark
Posts: 108
Joined: Jan 7th, 2014, 2:43 pm
Location: Washington State

Re: ROV for college project

Post by TigerShark »

Nice looking project! We don't have PVC like that in the US in that size! I am struggling with Arduino and don't know Pi at all, sorry. You could use a sensor for oil/ water pressure. They come in many types and are analog so easy to integrate.
bigdavevw
Posts: 22
Joined: May 7th, 2012, 12:40 pm

Re: ROV for college project

Post by bigdavevw »

Been a while since I last posted and the design of my ROV has changed a lot!

I decided to ditch the idea of the Pi and use a Beaglebone black with an OpenROV 2.7 controller board. This was far simpler and there is a lot more help available for this set up. The idea of infra red lights was ditched after I did some reading up on it.

I am using a Logitech C920 webcam and it is brilliant! The OpenROV board allows me to fit a sensor with depth, heading and magnetic compass readings. It was pricey, but the thought of writing my own code made me gag.

So most of the ROV is done, I,m just waiting for a 12mm hollow braided rope as the 10mm one I used had a flaw which prevented the cables going through. Once I have this I should be able to terminate all wires and get this thing running!

Dave


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