An interesting idea for an ROV.

[Alaska Rov Systems]

Hello Everyone!
Well I was dreaming last night and suddenly an idea came to me for another ROV. My idea is build it like a harrier jet although not with the design of a jet, with the bilge pumps facing downwards and have one in the rear that is rotates to control steering. So to operate you let it sink and you can uses the bilge pumps to control descent and once gets near the ocean floor, you can use the bilge pumps to make it hover off the seafloor. Then to take it out of hover mode, you turn on the rear bilge pump and hopefully away you go. I thought about this more and realized that with a system like this the ROV does not have to be neutrally buoyant, which means that as long as the bilge pumps are strong enough, you can have the rov have some weight. I don't know if this design will work but i would like to hear some feedback about my idea.
Here is a link on how a harrier works:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfbHMxnlbfI


Alex Stuart
Alaska Rov Systems

[AHarris]

So you control the decent and then when you are ready you leave "hover" on and then turn on the rear pump to power it forwards.
So to keep it at a constant level does it require the downwards force of the water as it moves forward or do you need to constantly adjust the vertical thruster?

Sorry to sound blunt (and this may be partially me miss-reading your plans) but won't it require a lot of power just to keep it off the surface when a neutrally buoyant ROV could do the same sort of thing.

[Unorthodox]

and you would hope there isnt much sediment on the bottom as well it could mushroom up and obscure your camera.

I guess I also dont see the benefit of a negatively bouyant ROV?

[Alaska Rov Systems]

Ya know I thought more about it and realized that I can hover if the ROV is neutrally buoyant. If I use bilge pumps the downward force of the water probably will not make it hover, it probably would make it travel up towards the surface. I guess it was a cool idea at first but once i remembered that when something is neutrally buoyant it will stay in place by itself. I guess I got a little too excited.

Alex

[glot]

I have condidered experimenting with a neutral bouyant machine with one appropriate pump and a number of solonoid controlled orfices acting as thrusters. By upping the voltage I could get away with a decent pump on smaller supply cable. Then one control wire for each valve and the common would be one of the pump feeds or perhaps use multiplexing.
Has anyone experimented with anything along these lines?

[Alaska Rov Systems]

Well after much thought, I am going to scrap the idea of using bilge pumps and use rc motors and props.
This way I can hook them directly to the aircraft rc reciever. Have an onboard battery and have the aircraft rx unit antenna go from the rov to the surface attached to a buoy, that way I can send a radio signal directly to the rov. If this works and I have a good battery power supply, the range could be almost limitless. Rc aircraft transmitters and recievers can transmit up to a mile. I calculated how much amperage the bilge pumps needed and it was too much even in series its about 4 amps in parallel its 7 amps. I want this rov to be completly wireless and to not have a tether. I would of course attach fishing line to it in case of onboard battery power failure.

[manhattan]

Cool idea, was thinking about it myself before I went complicated… However, my thoughts were more geared towards having the buoy equipped with thrusters and a spare motor to act as a winch for the rov i.e. controlling the depth, and all wirelessly controlled with RC. See a lot of positives with that setup. Could have a cheap GPS unit on the buoy, larger batteries, huge range and autonomy, precise depth control, and dry motors. Hmm must be a reason I didn’t go that way but cannot remember why…

[Alaska Rov Systems]

wow! thats a neat idea! i will have to ponder that idea. thanks!

[manhattan]

Now I remember why. I wanted to be able to drive rov in caves, wrecks etc so that setup would not be practical. I still regret not going that route since it appears to be much easier.