Deep ROV project

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leeinmt
Posts: 27
Joined: Jun 9th, 2013, 4:41 pm

Deep ROV project

Post by leeinmt »

Restarting my old ROV project.
Learned a lot cruising this forum, some really good ideas and links. Thank you everyone.

* Main pressure vessel is schedule 80 PVC, 6 inch diam, 2 feet long. Good for 750 feet deep (228 m).
Contains batteries, electronics, ESC's, and cameras. Kept at 1 atmosphere.
Schedule 80 is very hard to find locally but is avail online by the foot. Mine cost $33, free shipping.

* End caps are 1 inch thick clear acrylic with a 3/16" deep groove machined to accomodate two concentric O rings. The sched 80 wall thickness is .464 inches.

* Buoyancy control chamber is schedule 40 PVC, 4 inch diam, 2 feet long mounted on top of main pressure vessel, 1/2 inch Lexan end caps. Works like a scuba BC vest activated by a small scuba pony bottle.

* Exterior frame is sch 40 PVC 1/2 inch, vented to flood internally when immersed.

* Thrusters homemade similiar to ducted fans, mounted to exterior frame. Brushless motors in
separate sealed oil filled container mechanically connect to thruster propellers with flexible cables.

* Center of gravity balance controlled by motorized sliding gel-cel battery tray. Three gel-cels (sealed lead
acid) connected in parallel provide 12vdc for everything.

* Tether is 16 conductor telephone wire controlled by two older JR rc radio transmitters, hardwire connected
to the direct servo port on the back of the radio. I can control 16 separate functions with just 4 thin wires.
The other wires are for video and telemetry. Tether is supplemented with poly rope for strength.
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TigerShark
Posts: 108
Joined: Jan 7th, 2014, 2:43 pm
Location: Washington State

Re: Deep ROV project

Post by TigerShark »

Why not use the RC controller (TX) to send a signal down the tether with just one wire and have a RC receiver onboard? I like the CG idea, sounds like you have more space to work with than most of our designs. You will have a lot of buoyancy with a tube that size.
leeinmt
Posts: 27
Joined: Jun 9th, 2013, 4:41 pm

Re: Deep ROV project

Post by leeinmt »

The other wire is ground. The TX is the older JR xp8103 (actually two of them) to give me 16 separate channels. The 8 channel receivers are in the pressure vessel.

New rc radios don't have the direct servo control because they have all gone to the 2.4 mhx frequencies that don't interfere with each other. This JR has this so you could test your servos without causing someone else to crash.

I'm stuck on how to send telemetry back up the tether. Compass, water leakage, tilt bubble, etc.
Ian MacKenzie
Posts: 160
Joined: Jan 3rd, 2014, 10:04 pm
Location: Vancouver B.C. Canada

Re: Deep ROV project

Post by Ian MacKenzie »

I like your idea for adjusting the centre of gravity. Post some designs and pictures if you can. I want to do something similar on my next build.
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