16. Waterproofcasing2.0

Today is the day where I spend all my effort for my project. It's all because the trouble causing by our waterproof casing for our camera. Yesterday, I went to the hardware and spend 2 hours browsing the shop. I try to find something that big, got cap that can open and close easily, something that possible to be my waterproof casing. After a while, I got the right material. It actually the cap for the end of the pipe. I buy two and joint it together with a straight joint. As you can see above, the camera fit perfectly. But we still need to test it at the pool. We hope it will be 100% waterproof after this.

15. All goes wrong..

Since yesterday, our ROV giving us a lot of problem, it start with our camera casing. It leaked, and half full with water. Now our camera is broken and the worst thing is, the camera were not ours. it belong to Dr Nahrul. So, we we need to buy another one to replace it. What we doesn't understand is why the casing leak now? Because we already test it in the water before and nothing happen. So we make some conclusion that the casing having stamp on the way we bring it to the pool and having a small crack. We take this lesson and try to make another waterproof casing that having lease surface to be glue. And today, we having another problem regarding the buoyacy system. Yesterday, i'm make a hole to our buoyancy tank to mount it to the frame. but today, we cannot be able to mount it because the size of the hole. We suppose to make a hole it using the measurement from the big bracket as you see in the picture. But we trasfer the wrong measurement and it not fit to our frame now. We never know that we buy a small bracket before. So, today we fell so depress and lost our spirit. Moreover, the workshop is close today. There is nothing we can do today than go to the shop and spend more MONEEEYYYY...

14. Second test

model iklan ROV (amin)

Last night we go to our swimming pool to do another test. Our ROV were heavier than before. The plasticine in the buoyancy tank add more weight than what we imagine. My back hurt went carry it around. At 9.00 p.m we arrive. After some preparation we put the ROV in the water. At the first attempt, the ROV going straight underwater. The buoyancy system need to be adjust. So, we bring out some weight and put it back at the water. At this time, the ROV having slightly negative buoyancy. We try to make it completely submerge and it done well. The only things that bother us is that we were running out of battery power. So, it not have enough power to bring back the ROV to the surface. But at least it can submerge. We will do some improvement today.

13. Testing new buoyancy system

Because of the last event, we decided to make the experiment back at our beloved pool (IIUM's swimming pool). Last night we give our ROV a test for our new buoyancy system and it went wrong. The ROV cannot submerge underwater. But the movement at from all the thruster we pretty good. It also the first time that our vision system work together with the ROV because we just attach to it last week. And the result were impressive. The picture taken were crystal clear. It can see 20 meter a head in clean water. The fact that we still can reach those result at the night satisfy both of us. So, now what left is to make sure that we can make it submerge. We will buy another more plasticine today and test again tonight. It become more crucial right now, as IRIIE is just around the corner. Perhaps we will sacrifice our holiday for this project. Lets pray it will not happen... 

12. unfortunate result

Unfortunately, our testing at the lake not going so well. The lake were too dirty and shallow. So, we decided to get some fun before we back, we play kayak. After that we go to the shop to buy plasticine. In our project, plasticine will be put it into our buoyancy system to make it balance and submersible. So, we buy about 30 pack of plasticine today. Hopefully it will be enough to help the ROV to submerge.

11. wiring the control box

After struggling for several day for midterm exam, we finally be able to proceed with our project. Last night, we put our effort to make sure that all the wiring in the control box been wired neatly. We do a little touch up to make it proper for our next exhibition. Alhamdulillah, the camera, monitor and the thruster system is working perfectly. We also spend about 30 minute to discuss about power management in our system. As we use a lot of devises and only use 2 Lipo battery, it become more tricky. At the end we put the first battery to operating camera monitor and 1 truster that control up and down movement. For the second one we connect the battery with Arduino and other 2 thruster. So today we will do some experiment at UIA lake to test the buoyancy system. The buoyancy system that we want to test is a new one, so a lot of test need to be done today. So,we hope that we will get a better result today as what our exam result will be.. 

10. latest progress

Alhamdulillah, we finally manage to made waterproof camera for our ROV. The camera actually is an ordinary cctc camera but we shell it with prospect cover. We glue all side of the prospect with silicon glue and it stick perfectly. In the casing, we full it with plasticine to make sure it ca be submerge in the water and not give the ROV buoyant up. We also put it to prevent the water to make a direct contact with the camera it leak. There are several more proper technique to shell it, but it we want to save the camera as we want to return it to our lecturer after our project is done. Here we use prospect because we want to monitor if there is any water leaking inside the casing. The result is excellent after we put it in 3 meter depth. It does't mean that the camera only can stand to 3 meter depth, because we only can test it in swimming pool right now. And testing in deeper place will take us to higher risk. Until we find a a proper place, we stick to IIUM's pool.

9. the monitor

Today we brought monitor at Jalan Pasar. It cost us about RM 270.00. It all come from our own pocket money, because we already exceed our claim (RM1000.00). The connection is pretty easy. We just need to connect it with any av input and taraaaaa... it done. We choose it because it can be power up with 12V battery. Now it will be our job to find the camera and make it waterproof. wish me luck...

8. ROV news

Hawkes Remotes is researching on developing a Spider Optic System, a wire-free Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), which could probably change the method of ocean exploration.

http://www.hawkesremotes.com/

7. The motor

The selection of motor is the trickiest part because we need to make sure it waterproof and can handle the water pressure. We do a lot of research and come out with a solution. We buy submersible water pump. In the water pump, there are motor that help the system to operate. And of course it already waterproof. so it will save our time making DYI waterproof motor. We brought pump from Blidge that have pump power up to 1000 gallon per hour. The best part is, this motor is running in high torque, means that resistant from the water will be no problem to this motor. But before we start to use this motor, we need to take out the cover that hold the motor. When we take it out, we attach the shaft with the propeller that we already bought.

6. testing the buoyancy

We already finish wiring the control box. Although it not properly place, it sufficient to do the job (controlling the ROV). So, we decided to go to the swimming pool and test the ROV. In this experiment, want to make sure that the movement and the stability the ROV can be acquired nicely. It means that the buoyancy system and the motor need to be working perfectly in the water. At first attempt, the ROV cannot submerge in the water. So, we decided to take away some of the buoyant (made from polystyrene). After 2 to 3 times trying to fine the perfect balance of the ROV by moving the buoyant little by little, we got the result. The ROV can be float and submerge in the water. but we still need to improve more. because it seam that the ROV cannot go up and down fast. it take some time. Probably we will put more power to the motor that control the up and down movement.

5. control box

For our control system, we want to design proper control station. So, we decided to buy a tool box to put all the component in it. As what we planed today we put all together the electrical component in the tool box, but it seen to be so crowded. The challenge are, we need more space to put the monitor and the battery on it later. So, we need to wiring and mount them properly to make sure there are a lot more space left at the end. At this stage, we will redo the wiring and that will need a lot of time and more moneeeyyy....

4. control system

In our project we desired to use PS2 controller to navigate the ROV. The problems are we need to make a lot of research to understanding the function and create the coding. The problem not end there, as the controller need to be attach to the Arduino micro-controller and there are several protocol we need to understand before we can proceed. After had battle over coding and wiring, we manage to run one motor for reverse and forward movement. By this achievement, it reduce the pain for us to coding the hold system.

3. tether selection

Tether is one of the most essential things that can't be ignored. The selection of tether will determine the efficiency of the power being delivered to the thrusters. Several researches been performed before we come out with the decision. To minimize power loss, the tether must be large enough to avoid large resistance through the long wire. So AWG 18 copper wire come in our mind. This type of wire will be used in combination of our ROV control system and thruster system later. At this stage, 3 wires has been combined into one for the next experiment. In the future, we will combine them together with video I/O wire. For budget purpose, we limit it to 10 meter in length.

2. understading buoyancy

The idea is to make sure that the frame having the stability that we need. The bottle is been put at the top of the frame to test the ideal buoyancy. We experiment it at IIUM swimming pool with 3 meter depth. The frame initially having trouble to submerge because the upward force from the bottle is really strong. We try to fill in the bottle with water to decrease the density. After 2 to 3 test, we manage to get the ideal buoyancy for the frame. The test were merely to get better understanding of how object behave in water subjected to the force. Although the movement of water in the bottle make it unstable, at least we get the idea for our next development

1. Barracuda Project start...

For our FYP project, we want to build remotely operated vehicle or so call ROV. Our project were start at the end of 2010, but the development still in progress status. Although there are a lot of problem at the beginning, we still on the right track. Thanks for Dr Nahrul to guide us all the way. As we can see here, it is a frame for our ROV. We choose PVC pipe for the material. It about 15ft long 15ft width and 14 ft high. It design to give stability and ability to support all the component that will be mounted to it later.