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It could possibly be if I were not going to use
hydrolators and hydrocaps which absorb any hydrogen and convert it into
water.
Plus although there are trace amounts of
hydrogen made during discharge, most ot the hydrogen is made when you charge
and
I will be using the forced air while charging and
not running the motor at that time as well. But good thinking though
Vance.
Those hydrolators and hydrocaps had BETTER
work. Lol. Nobody ever says subs are safe. Even just scuba diving isn't
safe.
Heck, living isn't safe, it means you're going to
die. Lol. But I will do my best to make it as safe as POSSIBLE.
I guess it would be possible to seperate them. By
NOT equalizing the pod and plugging the ends of the tubes that carry the wires
from
the pod to the motor, and then carefully epoxying
each end of each and every single wire to insure there was an airtight seal
between the
wire's insulation and the wire strands so to
preclude any air or hydrogen leakage thru the strands. I could crimp fittings
onto the end of the wires
and then carefully expoxy over the insulation and
the strands leaving only the round connector fitting not epoxied and insuring
there was no missed
spots where air could leak thru the strand. I
probably could do that and will further consider it. But for now unless I change
my mind I am
banking on the hydrolator and hydrocaps. But again
good thinking Vance. Keep helping me ok? I can use all I can get.
Kindest Regards,
Bill Akins.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2005 11:14
AM
Subject: RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Wetsub
carrier water transport systems
Isn't having your motor and battery in the same air
comp loop an invitation for a hydrogen gas explosion?
Hi Vance.
You asked..."Speaking of which, how are you
protecting the penetrations and electrical system?"
I plan to use thru the hull stainless steel
waterproof fittings for the penetrations. Flexible tubing for the wires with
waterproof connections at the ends, and fuses as you suggested.
You also asked..."It seems to me that the
equalization process is more trouble than it is worth for the pod, which ought
to be strong enough to dive where you expect to dive"
Since I am going to equalize the motor with air,
and since the motor is connected to the battery pod via the tubing holding the
cables, I am really not going to any extra trouble to
equalize the pod. I know the strong pvc could
take the depths I plan to dive at but it doesn't hurt to equalize the pod
also. It would actually be hard to NOT equalize the pod when my
equalized motor has wiring going to the pod and
even if I tried to block off any air from the motor from getting into the pod
it would seep thru the wires themselves. So equalizing the motor
also pretty much automatically equalizes the
battery pod in my case. As always I appreciate your's and everyone else input
and advice. Putting our heads together always helps us brainstorm
and
think things thru. I truly appreciate all your
helpful posts along with everyone elses here.
Kindest Regards,
Bill Akins.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2005 11:06
AM
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Wetsub
carrier water transport systems
Launch
and Retrieval Platform--they were (are?) towed aluminum catamaran rafts with
grating decks and big ballast systems. Two divers piloted it, with the sub
on deck. Take the LRP down to 60 feet or so, release the sub, surface. To go
home, repeat in reverse. Sort of like what you have in mind, only they did
the sub transfer underwater, where there was no wave action. Mucho important
when you are trying to mate 5 tons of submarine to 5 tons of raft. Banging
be a bad thing, I can assure you.
Green gas beeze chlorine, yes.
Pretty tough on the fire fighters, who were hoping like hell that the
hydrogen we couldn't see was going to be nice and vent out of there without
spitting Trojan batteries as projectiles. I've seen a pod go like that (in
the shop at Perry) and brother, let me tell you, it ain't a pretty sight.
Leak detectors are very simple in theory. It's just a little DC
open-circuit deal that closes when shorted by water in the bilges or
wherever and lights the light. Take a little block of PVC, attach two stiff
wires a quarter inch or so apart, then glue or screw it on the inside pod
bottom so the wires just clear the surface (1/8" to 1/4"). Then run a pair
of wires from it, through the pressure vessel wall, and out to your cockpit.
Make a little cannister of PVC or acrylic or something, as this is a wet
sub, so things will stay dry. Inside, power it through switches with a
couple of 9-volt batteries to LEDs or something, and a buzzer. Don't use the
sub's main power system, as you want to know about a leak whether you are
powered up or not. Keep it totally isolated and independant. Goop everything
down so errant splashes and condensation won't cause any problems, and
you're in business. Total cost, with batteries, $17.36 or thereabouts.
(Okay, I'm guessing. It might go 20 bucks).
Speaking of which, how
are you protecting the penetrations and electrical system? If you do have a
leak, and a major short, straight cables will toast a hole in whatever is
handy and blow you out of the water. A simple solution is to build in-line
fuses. Size them to maximum draw for the system and cable, then cast them
into PVC tubes using 3M goop or something non-flammable. A major short, such
as you might expect with seawater intrustion, will pop the fuses and reduce
your problem to the pod itself. We may all bow our heads now and pray that
it never happens, but should it come about, at least you'd know what to run
FROM!
As for vents, I'd use SS fittings, maybe a 1/4" going in, and
a 3/8" or 1/2" going out. Put bulkhead shutoffs near or directly into the
pod, and valves up high. Hook a regulator to a gas supply, attach it to the
goes-in valve, start a slow flow (just a little air action will do it) and
you have your vent system. If you plumb it high on the boat, then you could
charge in the water, no problem. Also, have the input line and output lines
on opposite ends of the pod. You could do it with both fittings in one
penetration, just run tubing from the input line (inside the pod) to the
front.
Compensation is another deal. If you were talking about oil,
I could probably help, but I've never used air to do it. It seems to me that
the equalization process is more trouble than it is worth for the pod, which
ought to be strong enough to dive where you expect to dive. Psubs has some
really creative guys who have experience with this, so I'm betting someone
will help you out.
If air compensation causes you problems, then you
might want to consider modifying the motor housing to improve its
capabilities. That will take some machine work. You'd want to cut a proper
O-ring groove in the sections, and root out enough metal around the prop
shaft to allow a pump seal of appropriate size to be installed. It isn't all
that complicated a process, and Dan H. has a whole machine shop up there in
Pennsylvania with about four feet of snow in the parking lot. Send it to
him. He hasn't got anything else to do, anyway-----Right, Dan?
I'm
looking forward to seeing this critter. Couldn't find you on the moki pages,
so maybe they haven't posted it yet. I'll keep an eye out. At present, I've
got half a dozen Spanish speaking roofers banging away at my new shingles,
so that's keeping me busy.
Best Regards,
Vance
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