Team Buoyancy Vehicle (Aurelia)
| Project Name | Aurelia Buoyancy Vehicle |
| Project Title | Improved Drive System for Autonomous Buoyancy Vehicle |
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Abstract |
The Aurelia Buoyancy Vehicle is an autonomous profiling float developed by Patrick Pasteris, with the overall goal of collecting data to be used to predict hurricanes. The vehicle is equipped with various sensors that collect marine data by moving up and down (profiling) water columns and drifting with the current. The vehicle is controlled by an Arduino MEGA 2560 microcontroller. The objective of this project is to improve the Aurelia’s drive system, which is currently a linear-actuated piston operating on a NEMA 17 0.81N*m stepper motor. It is a direct drive system that transmits torque to the piston using a lead screw and threaded rod. The improvement of the drive system is broken into two parts: enhancing the depth capability from 20m to 50m and increasing operational life. The depth capability will be improved through the implementation of a variable gearbox which will enable much more torque to be generated from the motor. The team is pursuing a dog box utilizing molybdenum-disulfide (MDS) Nylon as the gear material due to its self-lubricating properties. Operational life improvement can be further broken down into selecting a more efficient stepper motor and implementing a parking mechanism that enables the vehicle to consume zero to negligible operational power while parked. The team tested the current NEMA 17 0.81N*m, a NEMA 23 1.16N*m, and a NEMA 23 0.66N*m. The team chose these motors as there is a range of different torques and amperages for each motor so a trend would be able to be established moving for efficiency when moving through different ratings of motors. After testing, it was found that the NEMA 23 1.16N*m motor was the most efficient and was therefore selected for use. For the parking mechanism, the team is currently opting for a parking pawl, not unlike those used in automatic vehicle transmissions. |
| Faculty Advisor | Dr. Amit Tandon |
| Sponsor | Patrick Pasteris |
| Team lead | James Bonnell |
| Team Members | Ben Claxton, Eli Kroll, Shane Mercuri, and Jacob Tavares |
| Video Link | https://youtu.be/YJSxNVwRV50 |
