Deep Ocean Applications
Sub Aqua Imaging - SAIS
San Diego, California
SeaBotix Inc. (SBX), manufacturer of remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROV). (www.seabotix.com)
Seabotix manufactures the Litte Benthic Vehicle (LBV), a small remotely operated vehicle that is capable of carrying a wide array of oceanographic tools for inspection and light duty underwater work.
The SeaBotix 1500m LBV model uses a glass viewport on the front of the vehicle that houses both of the vehicle cameras, the light source and the majority of the vehicle electronics. Several instances of glass spalling in the field led SBX to reconsider the design.
SubAqua Imaging was contracted to examine the damaged viewports and find a solution to the problem.
The glass was being damaged when the viewport was disassembled and reassembled for routine maintenance in the field. This often resulted in debris being trapped between the glass and the metal seat that it rests on. When the reassembled vehicle went to depth, the debris would cause high concentrations of stress at the glass seat leading to spalling.
SAIS redesigned the viewport to be permanently attached to the metal seats so that the vehicle could be disassembled in the field without removing the glass from its seat. One of the major design constraints was to keep all other parts the same so that the new design could be swapped out with existing ones in the field.
The redesign was completed and three complete viewports were assembled and tested by SAIS. The new design was successfully tested to SBX specified standards at their faculty.
SAIS delivered complete documentation, fixtures for building the new viewports and conducted a hand off to SBX Production at the conclusion of the project.
July 2007.
For more Information:
Tel:+858 4140383
- San Diego, USA
info@subaquaimaging.com
Contact Us Here >>>
Contact Us
Tel:
+858 4140383
- San Diego, USA
Email::
info@subaquaimaging.com
www.seabotix.com
SeaBotix Inc, manufacturer of the Little Benthic Vehicle (LBC) and Little Benthic Crawler (LBV)
www.seaviewsystems.com
SeaView Systems Inc, Marine ROV operations
www.seavisionmarine.com
SeaVision Marine LLC, Bathymetric survey and data analysis
