Electrical Connections ?NOT?
I?ve often read many times in the posts that through hull penetrations are an issue that confuse builders by the pure nature of their purpose. We spend countless hours perfecting the art of welding and spare no expense regarding view port water integrity. And after we?ve accomplished all this, we drill holes in the pressure vessel to allow us to pass wires from the inside to the out side. Then we try to adopt old tried and true methods for water proofing the electrical connection to a plug that is set in place with silicon grease or design some type of squeezing apparatus. All of these methods have worked to some degree in the past but alas, the week part of many under water projects will identify itself as a
salt water leaching into that plug that we need so badly but hate to see.
One of the wonderful attributes that we all share is the ability to design our submersibles as though it was never dun before. This places us in the inevitable position of ?Thinking out side the box? And given all things considered, the simplest answer is usually the best answer. Many engineers or handicapped by what they?ve seen in the past and what has become a standard procedure. Necessity is the mother of invention, but simplicity is the gift of thought. A noted designer and engineer in the submersible industry once told me that ?If it?s any more complicated than an incline plane, go back and do it again?. I?ve been working with and designing submersibles for
almost 20 years and one of the most valuable assets I have is that I always look at a problem as though it was the first time any one has had to cure the problem.
I?ve spent the last 8 months designing a set of manipulators for a deep-water project and have stumbled across a few ideas that I?ve been able to use for other applications. And in the last few days I?ve read some posts regarding through hull penetrations. As I read the posts regarding through hulls, I bumped into a new and better way and would like to hear some feed back from the rest of you. The basic reason for this forum is to introduce design concepts and to reduce the price of safety.
My idea: There are many companies that sell off the shelf hydraulic hoses and fittings. Its very easy to drill a hole and weld in a fitting that a hydraulic hose can be secured to. There are many sizes of hoses that can be used and they are designed to withstand pressures in excess of 3000 pounds. The wire to be used for an electrical connection can be sized to fit inside a hydraulic line and vise versa. This will eliminate the hose from being squeezed buy outside pressure. It also eliminates any and all water migration into electrical connections from one pressure vessel to
another. This idea becomes a flexible conduit that?s cheep and built proof. In the case that the connection would require the capability to be jettisoned a flange can be used in the human occupancy pressure vessel. This flange would be a 2 part fitting that can be caped from the inside prior to releasing the out side conduit. DJB