The included angle is the angle with a vertex
at the center of the spherical window, and lines from there through opposite
edges of the window on a plane normal to the seat. For example, if you had a hemisphere
the angle would be 180 degrees. But you can take a smaller segment of the
sphere while maintaining the same radius. In Solo’s
case, 120 degrees. This is very clear with a picture, and I’m
afraid I’m not explaining it too clearly.
No matter what sort of window you want to
use, be sure to get a copy of PVHO (Pressure Vessels for Human Occupancy). The
engineering comes down to following very understandable instructions and
looking things up in tables. It’s a must read.
Rgds,
Alec
-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Nugent
[mailto:dirkpitt77@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003
11:18 PM
To:
personal_submersibles@psubs.org
Subject: RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Alan
Winnick Explorer sub
What's included angle?
(I'd go thru the archives n find out, only my modem is horribly slow and I'd be
here til 1 a.m. ;)) I might have to research domes a little
more.
In his post tonite though, Alan
Winick brings up another good point I'd forgotten to include myself (thanks
Alan!). Although domes are great for visibility, it sounded a bit much of
an undertaking for me to make my own, as the engineering IS a little more
complicated, from what I understand. I myself felt more comfortable just
having flat viewports made. For my first sub, anyway. As the
experience comes, maybe then I'll experiment with making domes on the next
one. :)
Chris
Alec Smyth <Asmyth@changepoint.com>
wrote:
It is possible to make a
cheap dome, if you blow it from sheet as opposed to having it cast. The big
drawback of blowing domes from a sheet is that the material thins out at the
apex of the curve, and it’s the minimum thickness that counts for your
calculations. The trick is to design a dome with a reduced included angle.
Looking at the pictures of Solo, you would probably think the dome is a full
hemisphere (180 degrees). However that is only true of the outer dome. The structural
interior dome has an included angle of just 120 degrees. The visibility is
great but the apex thickness is reduced to a far lesser extent. So there you
go… a 2” thick dome for just $1,500.
Alec
-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Nugent [mailto:dirkpitt77@yahoo.com]
<
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003
8:16 PM
To:
personal_submersibles@psubs.org
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Alan
Winnick Explorer sub
For what it's worth, Stanley
Plastics quoted me a little over $300 US for just a simple 1.5" thick,
12" diameter flat viewport. I don't remember if that was certified
and tested, but I opted to go that route as it seems a bit less expensive than
a dome. Eight viewports for around $2500-can't beat it.
Chris Nugent
Carsten Standfuss
<MerlinSub@t-online.de> wrote:
Hi - Stanley Plastic for example make this size domes
- the last I
requested was about 8000 USD with certification and test - maybe about
5000-6000 without. But there are other non certificate builders make
something in this size for 3000. Depents on diameter and how deep you
want to go.. shallow water maybe less.
Look in the archive files - there are amazing amount of informations..
look for "domes" or "arcylic" or simillar.
best regards Carsten
CurtisUehara@aol.com schrieb:
>
> I have been looking at the psub picture gallery and I think I would
> like to build something like Mr. Winnick did. The Explorer sub. It
> is not too big and looks pretty easy to understand how it works. The
> parts would not be hard to make I think. But I cant make the glass
> bubble in front. Did he buy that? Who makes them? Is M! r. Winnick in
> the message group now? Thank you. Curtis Uehara.
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