Norm,
The initial fabrication of the boat is complete and I have started a series of commissioning test. She has been in the water for the initial tea bag test. For the last 6 months I have been building a house with me son so have not done any further work on the boat. I hope to be back on the test program after my son and family have moved into their new house. Initial test confirmed basic buoyancy states and hull/hatch integrity and identified a bad solenoid valve.
The goal of this project was to design a one-man submersible, designated R300, following ABS regulations as much as possible( but not to the point of classing) that would be
streamlined to reduce drag and entanglements and have adequate power for maneuverability using control surfaces. In other words, an underwater jet ski. I have four years invested to this point, two in design and two in fabrication.
Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic, over syntactic foam, is used for the hydrodynamic shell that covers the pressure hull. There are two ballast tank systems, main and variable, which are soft and hard respectively. The main ballast tank, comprising tanks forward and aft, are located at the longitudinal center of gravity of the boat. Likewise, the Variable Ballast Tank is also located at the longitudinal center of gravity. Both the MBT and the VBT are blown with air from four Catalina S-19 scuba tanks, regulated down to 25 psi above ambient water pressure. Longitudinal trim is
achieved by hydraulically articulating a sliding lead trim weight. A 120 VDC hydraulic power unit supplies high-pressure hydraulic fluid to power hydraulic cylinders on control surfaces and the hydraulic motor that articulates the trim weight. Boat systems are integrated and controlled through an on board Programmable Logic Controller with a touch screen operator interface. The propulsion system utilizes an axial jet-ski impellor. The jet-ski nozzle is used for pitch and yaw control while wing mounted ailerons are used to control roll. A 13 HP, DC series wound motor, connected to ten 12 VDC deep draft AGM marine batteries, is used to drive the jet-ski impellor. The motor is controlled with a MOSFET DC motor control unit. A drive shaft connects the drive motor to the jet pump. A hull seal around the drive shaft is a cartridge type double mechanical seal with an glycol coolant acting as a barrier fluid between the seals.
Specifications for the R300 are given below: R-300 SPECIFICATIONS
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* 24 inch acrylic hemispherical view port * 13 hp DC motor * Jet Impellor * MOSFET DC motor controller * 120 VDC main battery system *24VDC Emergency battery system * Water Hard Variable ballast system * Drop weight system * Fly-By-Wire Control System * Air systems * Oxygen system * Carbon Dioxide scrubber * Touch Screen Operator Panel/Display * Carbon dioxide & Oxygen level monitors * VHF Radio * Alarm and monitoring systems * Mechanical and electronic depth meters * Electronic compass *
Trim and heel indicators * External halogen lights * Fire Extinguisher * Onboard battery chargers *
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TECHNICAL DATA
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MAIN DIMENSIONS
Length 19 ft
Beam 6.5 ft
Height 4.1 ft
Draft 31 in
Pressure Hull diameter 30 inches
Pressure Hull material ASTM A516 Grade 70
Pressure Hull thickness 0.25 inches
Dry weight (excluding payload and pilot) 4,214 lbs
Operational depth 300 ft
Payload capacity (including pilot) 232 lbs
Drop weight 300 lbs
Crew 1
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PROPULSION & POWER SUPPLY
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Jet pump Jet pump, axial flow, single stage
DC motor 13 hp DC motor with MOSFET motor controller
Main batteries 10 @100 Ah / 120VDC
Emergency battery 2 @100 Ah / 24VDC
Battery endurance 7 hrs (normal operation)
Emergency battery endurance 72 hrs (hotel load only)
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GAS SYSTEMS
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Main ballast - Soft 7.6 scf
Variable ballast - Hard 1.8 scf
Air 76 scf / 207 bar
Oxygen 78 scf / 139 bar
Oxygen endurance 7+72 hrs
Reserve of Buoyancy 10.7%
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PERFORMANCE
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Normal speed 7 knots (8 mph) for 8 hrs
Max
speed 20+ knots for 9 minutes
Range 66 miles (normal operations)
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Cliff
----- Original Message ----
From: Norman <nparmley@suddenlink.net>
To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 11:18:51 PM
Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Interest in your project
Cliff Redus:
Hi,
Cliff can I get more info on your project. It looks vry interesting.
Norm
Parmley
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