Date of Award

2021

Degree Type

Capstone Project

First Advisor

Dr. Bahram Nassersharif

Abstract

The Naval Undersea Warfare Center sponsored team 13’s mechanical engineering capstone project. The task given to the team was the recovery of a cylindrical body into a cylinder tube that is twice the diameter. After our initial meet with our sponsor, Vadim Gurevich, the team was presented with designing a system to recover a UUV into the launch tube of a submarine. After performing research, designs were developed by each team member. These designs were analysed and compared by the team and a system was conceptualized that consists of a robotic arm mounted inside a hollowed out torpedo tube that can be loaded and unloaded by the submarine’s current systems. The arm would be able to be controlled by servo motors and a stepper motor to create the desired motion by an external controller. The team developed first a small arm to prove that the design concepts of an arm were valid. This initial design led the team to understand different design aspects, such as motion, control systems, and power consumption. Testing with this small arm created a improved design for the product. The team was able to produce the desired motion of the arm motors and the worm gear drive system independently, with a system to control them. Then an improved design for the arm was produced by 3D printing the arm components. The larger servo motors were then mounted to the arm and the worm gear drive system was assembled inside a PVC tube, to represent a torpedo shell. Due to delays in receiving ordered components the systems proper alignment of the arm and the lead screw was not accomplished. Though the team ran into issues of time constraints, and the final product did not meet our standards. The team believes that the concept of our design is valid and with additional work could be produced to meet the goal of retrieving a cylindrical body.

Comments

Team Name: Team 13, SEABUD

Sponsor: Naval Underwater Warfare Center

Document Reference: MCE-402-013-2021

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