Date of Award

2022

Degree Type

Capstone Project

First Advisor

Dr. Bahram Nassersharif

Abstract

This report describes the overall design procedure to compose a ballasting system for various Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) sponsored by Raytheon Technologies. Common AUV systems are used for a wide range of applications from environmental monitoring, oceanic exploration, to data collection. AUVs also have many technical advantages that make underwater tasks more efficient, cost-effective, and generally safer. Raytheon Technology, specifically, is looking to improve their existing ballasting mechanism for their AUVs to use for military defense. For this project, Raytheon Technology has set a standard for this design to improve upon current space, weight, and power efficiencies. The end goal of this design is to create a modular ballasting system, to meet the specification requirements set by Raytheon, to be designed for a Type B AUV.

Ballasting systems are known to drive the vertical motion of AUV systems based on density control. To control the desired depth of such devices, ballast is used to create negative, neutral, or positive buoyancy based on Archimedes Principle. Throughout the semester the team was able to research, collaborate, and design 120 concepts for potential ballasting systems. After utilizing the engineering and scientific method these concepts were evaluated using various analysis procedures. The determination process included the assessment of the designs through multiple Pugh analysis and Gantt charts and mentor advice. Each concept had to be met with the design specifications set by Raytheon. Predominantly, the vehicle should be able to remove .6lbs of water and reach a depth of 14ft, having a variable ballasting time no longer than 10 minutes. Conclusively, the expected mission length for this system is to be at least 30 minutes.

Over the course of the semester, a syringe-type ballast system design was established to meet the desired criteria. To establish proof of this concept, a total of $104 was spent of the $500 budget and is expected to increase as more improvements are to be made. Furthermore, the weight of the current system using a linear actuator and plastic syringe is under 3lbs; however, this weight is also expected to decrease in the next few months. The work of the previous five-month period is logged in this report as are future project aspirations. Continuously, a financial and market analysis was done to evaluate the overall cost of this project and industry. The goal of next semester is to optimize the efficiency of the control system through multiple ballast tests to finalize this product.

Comments

Team Name: Team 24, Raytheon Ballast: Team Nautilus

Sponsor: Raytheon Technologies

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