Initial Body Designs

For the past couple of weeks we have brainstormed a few basic designs for our submersible. Currently we are trying to choose a design to pursue. This process is harder than we thought – the idea of having to commit to a design for the rest of the project is a daunting task. Thus we are writing this blog post to give an idea of what the ROV may look like.

Please comment with any thoughts on the designs!

Design 1

The forerunner of the three designs look a bit like your regular submarine:

Isometric View

Top View

PROS:

• Smallest frontal surface area
• Precise control of everything but roll
• One large motor and one large prop (takes less power and is overall more efficient)
• Easily add new capsules (storage, experimental instruments, etc.) simply by elongating the ROV

CONS:

• Small volume in which to fit stereoscopic cameras
• No control of roll
• Large side profile

Design 2

This design we called the winged sub (as you can probably see why). The two wing thrusters will be able to rotate (using servos), giving us most of our desired degrees of freedom:

Isometric View

Top View

Elevated Back View

PROS:

• Medium amount of frontal surface area
• Two large motors (better maneuverability and thrusting force)
• Fewest thrusters
• Control of all 5 degrees of freedom (including roll) 

CONS:

• No strafing (must always be moving nose-first)
• Needs servo motors for variable thrusters (another layer of complication)
• Small volume in which to fit stereoscopic cameras

Design 3

The final design it to connect two identical cylinders:

Isometric View

Top View

PROS:

• Two large motors (better maneuverability and thrusting force)
• Control of all 5 degrees of freedom (including roll)
• Two separate capsules for stereoscopic cameras

CONS:

• Largest frontal surface area
• Largest number of thrusters