Project Update - Concept Report

Hello again, it's been a while without any posts, but that's because we've been hard at work.

After considering feedback we received after releasing our Ideation Report, we decided to make some improvements to our design.

Recap

Project Statement

Often images  of structures, wildlife and seabed are required for monitoring and exploration. Divers have limited amount of oxygen in their tanks to get these pictures as well as it is often not safe to dive due to current and pollution. 

Image have to be correctly oriented to be used and a remotely operated vehicle has to be positioned using a control system to attain this orientation.

Can we design and build a remotely operated vehicle that can take pictures at 1.5 meters depth?

In brief

The vehicle will be controlled by a remote control joystick, as well as an external display, that displays visual data sent from the rover's camera.

Detailed concept

This is an ROV that aims to facilitate underwater exploration at approximately 1.5 metres below the water surface.

It will be controlled remotely from a surface point, which the rover is tethered to by its power and data transmission cable. The controller will use a joystick to control the movement of the rover in all three axes, and will use a physical terminal to observe images sent from the rover.

Function analysis

Figure 1: Overall function analysis

Detailed Function Analysis

Figure 2: Detailed Function Analysis

Electronics parts

Figure 3: Camera Arduino

1) VC0706 Camera Arduino

    -take images in JPEG format

    -relay images to a PC or separate monitor

    

Figure 4: Motor Shield

2) Motor Shield

    -easily to control motor direction and speed, for motors providing forward and backwards movement beneath the water.

    -able to power a motor with a separate power supply of up to 12V

Figure 5: Joystick

3) Joystick
    - control motion along the X-axis and Y-axis
    -control the direction of the vehicle

    

Figure 6: LED

4) LED

    -provide vision so that arduino camera can take picture clearly

Figure 7: H-bridge motor controller chip

5) L298 H-bridge motor controller chip
  The L298 motor controller IC is a fully-featured IC chip that can allow us to control both the speed and direction of a motor. One L298 is already integrated within the Arduino motor shield, however we need a second one to control another group of motors that will be used to surface and submerge the rover.

Flowchart

Figure 8: Flowchart

Wiring diagram

Figure 9: Arduino connection

Figure 10: H-bridge connection

Materials

The primary material for the robot structure will be aluminium. There will be a PVC canister to store the electronics. Figures 11 and 12 list down the materials that will be needed to make this robot.

Figure 11: Material list

Figure 12: Detailed material list

Predicted total weight of robot = 3.2864 x 9.81 = 32.2396 N 

Safety Factor (SF) is set at 1.5,

SF = Buoyancy Force (BF) ÷ Weight

BF = 1.5 x 32.2396 = 48.3594 N

Total Volume = BF ÷ (Gravitational force x density of water)

Total Volume = 48.3594 ÷ (9.81 x 1000) = 0.0049296 cubic-meter

3D Model

Figure 13: 3D model of robot

The rover is designed to be lightweight, durable, and be easily expandable if the need arises. All electronics components will be stored within the cylindrical container in the middle of the rover, while the motors will be mounted to the sides. To prevent any obstacles from interfering with smooth operation of the motors, there is an acrylic panel acting as a sort of crash barrier.

That's all for now, please stay tuned for updates on our prototyping stages!

References

Ezy Strut (2016) Pipe Diameter Charts Available at: http://www.ezystrut.com.au/design/pipe-diameters/ (Assessed 16^th December 2016)

CEP (2016) Weight Calculator Available at: http://www.engineeringcivil.com/weight-calculator.html (Assessed 17th December 2016)

SI Metric (2016) specific gravity of metals Available at: https://www.simetric.co.uk/si_metals.htm (Assessed 17th December 2016)

Reference (2016) How do I calculate the weight of aluminium? Available at: https://www.reference.com/science/calculate-weight-aluminum-4340089a015bd6ec (Assessed 17th December 2016)

Lucas

Pei Yong

Joel

Gabriel

Keith