Brainstorming and Summer Research:
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| Above: This is one of my drafts I created during the summer for a compilation of all systems into one integrated unit. This was one of my potential ideas. This was important that I scoped out the whole layout of the ROV because I needed to know what components had to be placed where and the requirements of my team members for the project. I also had an idea or reference in my head as to how much the unit was going to weigh and I had to figure out a possible location to place it on the ROV for stability. Below I concentrated my efforts on just the electronics portion of the ROV. |
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| Above: This is an alternate design that I came up with during the summer. It was also another plausible solution for location of different components on the ROV. |
During the end of Junior year at the end of the Submission process for projects, this was an initial idea or compilation of components for the creation of the Underwater ROV.
Above: This is the competition that we are competing for, and I based my drawings, analysis, complexity, and my designs all with these task challenges and this apparatus in mind. Following through with my experiments, trial-and-error based testing, I have discovered many different components and needs that I had to find in order for my solution to work.
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Over the Summer, to verify that my drawings were not impossible, i conducted some trial-and-error based experiments. The first of these tests was to see if I could re-solder the Playstation Two Controller port to 8 new wires and test them individually with a volt meter and setting off a simple LED indicator light on a testing board.
Here was the process:
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| Above: This is a view of how I soldered the wires to the existing contacts. I alternated colors; red, white, and blue, and then I alternated heat-shrink colors; red, white, and blue, so that I could distinguish as to which wires were which. |
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| Above is a closer view of the Printed Circuit board and my soldering job performed on it as well as the easily recognizable color pattern. |
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| Above: This is an orthographic view of the equipment I was testing. Towards the back of the circuit board, you can see my patterns of heat-shrink for organization reasons. |
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Above: I hooked up each wire to a different LED and to a volt meter so that I can send current through each bit, test the continuity and get a visual indication that the LED was turning on. This will confirm no faults in my actual port when programming is involved later on in my project. Above: this is a picture of a Playstation Two Controller Port. This displays all of the functions of the 9 different wires embedded within the controller and how they actively play a role in the function of it working. I used this diagram to create the foundation basis for my project.   |
Further testing my circuit, I obtained an Arduino microcontroller and took High Resolution pictures for analysis and conducted hours of research to see if it was compatible with my potential alternate solutions I drew for the first day of school.
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| Above is a top view of the Microcontroller. On the left side you can see it has USB Compatibility as well as a 5V Power adapter. There are numerous pins for connecting different devices for open source coding. There is a central processing unit, as well as a reset button. |
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| Above: This is a bottom view of the microcontroller. The holes on the bottom of the unit is meant for stand-offs for mounting purposes. The soldered contacts are for making more permanent projects. Considering that this is an expensive piece of equipment that I plan on using for additional projects, for efficiency purposes, I will just use the pins on the top of the unit. |
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| Above: This is an image of the company, the model and type of board. This is used for documenting purposes. This board is more than sufficient for the requirements of my project. |
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| Above: This is an angled side profile of the microcontroller. This gives the audience a sense of depth, and how the concept of the pins work if they weren't first understood. Here you can also see the USB port to the left and the power port on the right. |
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| Above: This is an example of some testing equipment that I had available to me over the summer. On the far left, there is a 350 watt Power Supply, which converts 120V AC Voltage into 12V DC Voltage. Due to the large voltage step down, it is sufficient of high amounts of amperage. This is a prime example of a battery that comes from a source that is more reliable and doesn't deplete (The Power Company / Supplier) This piece of testing equipment proved that my microcontroller had the ability to power up and to let me attempt to code it. |
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Installing physical hardware components on a breadboard for testing:
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| Above: This is the breadboard I tested the electrical hardware on. |
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| This piece of tape was holding down the 30 gauge wires that I soldered to the Playstation Two port for stability. |
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| The Silver bit is called a MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor.) It's main application is to step down voltage from the supplied 12 Volts to 5 Volts so that the Arduino and the Playstation Two Controller can be powered. |
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| Above: The large green ribbon cable (consisting of 4 wires) runs the analog data from the breadboard to the microcontroller for interpretation. |
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| Above: This was after some more research and further revisions. With more organization consistent through my construction, I had better results and more positive feedback when testing the comparability and realistic aspect of choosing this design in my rationale before the first day of school. |
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| Above: This is an isometric view of my total project right now in a testing phase. |
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Above: This is a closer view of my project in one of its final stages before the first day of school.  |
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Blowers / Motors / Bilge Pumps
Waterproofing:
Speaking to numerous professionals in the field of waterproofing. I found out that it's not stressful and as dificult as I once thought. From the site owner at http://www.SubmarineBoat.com I discovered that for our purposes with the Underwater ROV, the ultimate cheap and efficienct solution for solving our needs would be obtaining something called an OtterBox
Blowers / Motors / Bilge Pumps
After a few hours of looking at pumps, and blowers, and bilge pumps, I came up with the conclusion that bilge pumps were the most efficient. Apparently, pumps are generally used to move high amounts of water but usually are expensive and used for moving water to different elevations and applying pressure to accomplish the jobs. A Bilge Pump is a motor that works based off of volume. Considering that our input and output are the same median, it would make more sense to go with the cheaper alternative of Bilge Pumps. One popular design that I've heard many people have success with and has a very versatile design was the Attwood Turbo 3000.
Above: This is the bilge pump from Attwood. They are very efficient, will run on the native 12V power supply lines that we are given. From my research, this seems like it will meet our needs above our expectations and should be very versatile if we need to meet higher demands in the future without compromising much price.
Together with all of these positive results I was receiving from my extensive research over the summer, I feel more comfortable and I am leaning towards picking Alternate Solution #3. This solution is very versatile, compatible with what our needs are, and open's up our opportunities significantly. Some of the research topics that I had to study were the following:
- Serial
- Analog
- Bits / Bytes
- Pulse Width Modulation
- Playstation 2 Controller Pins
- Oscilliscopes
- MOSFETs
- Step Up / Step Down Converters
- Transformers
- Microcontrollers
- Open Source Programming
Click Here: SE2 ROV RC Rationale
References
Homebuilt Rovs. Homebuilt Rovs. Retrieved May 16, 2011, from http://www.homebuiltrovs.com/
MATE ROV International Competition - A Darker View. A Darker View - Index Page. Retrieved May 17, 2011, from http://darkerview.com/darkview/index.php?/archives/373-MATE-ROV-International-Competition.html
Saab Underwater ROV. ROV Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicles by Saab Seaeye. Retrieved May 14, 2011, from http://www.seaeye.com/
SeaPerch. The 2011 National SeaPerch Challenge. Retrieved May 14, 2011, from seaperch.org/challenge_rules#kit_mods
Robert Crimmins
Marine Academy of Science and Technology
Systems Engineering II Curriculum
Robert Crimmins
Marine Academy of Science and Technology
Systems Engineering II Curriculum
