Some updates on our ROV project:

We have completed phase 1 of the project, and now have a defined design. We will no longer be making any changes to the design, besides those required for 'manufacturability' or necessity for function. We have limited the number of thrusters to 3 instead of the original 4, to limit the cost of the ROV. Instead of 2 thrusters pointing vertically, we will have 1 thruster mounted on the rear of the craft hooked up to some hosing.

We did run into a problem though. The thrusters are using a bilge pump motor. These are already waterproof to more depth than we will need, and come in a nice plastic housing. The problem we ran into was that the ascent/descent thruster was designed to use the included impeller to pump water in both directions. Unfortunately, impellers only function in one direction, regardless of the direction of rotation. They only have a much reduced efficiency in the reverse direction. This means with one thruster, we would only be able to pump in one direction with the included impeller. We are experimenting with some replacement propellers, but the selection is limited due to the designed housing.

We also have a few propellers to experiment with for the forward thrusters.

Some of the PVC fittings have been cut and mounted. The lenses have been cut, and the smaller lighting lenses have been mounted as well.

We are going to begin making the lighting boards soon, and I hope to move onto making the motor controller cards soon as well. The lighting boards will be both IR and visible light, as a webcam picks up very well in the IR band. They will both be controlled seperately, so that we will be able to experiment with the different lighting conditions.