Re: Battery boxes

[VBra676539@aol.com]

In a message dated 6/29/99 5:49:06 PM, jonnie@chronic.lpl.arizona.edu writes:

<<Depending on how important you feel
avoiding a hydrogen explosion is, you could even put the batteries in a
regular case in the sub at 1atm, seal the box well and purge that. This is
probably the simplest system I could concieve of, save the rack of plain
cells under the seat. 
	Guess I just understand too much chemistry to put caustic and
explosive gasses in my immediate breathing space. :) 

							John>>

But remember not to combine iner gases with Hydro-Caps. They need oxygen to 
combine with the weeping Hydrogen to make water. And work very well, I might 
add. You might also consider the "box keel" design all three Nektons and the 
Delta have used for something on the order of 10,000 dives. It is a pretty 
simple solution for shallow designs, although not too simple (I suspect) for 
the engineer. They are designed around eight 6-volt golf cart batteries, use 
Hydro-Caps, and are closed with a pretty strong aluminum lid that screws down 
on top with a neoprene gasket. The PC-5, designed and built in the late 60s, 
had a 20" diameter battery pod welded into a long hull slot. It had hatches 
into the hull, rather than being open from one end to the other, but was very 
compact and worked like a champ. That sub is still working in Italy with two 
additional battery pods and the original used for payload.
Vance