Hi. just come up with an idea for discussion
Using an water pump like an submersible water pump and some solenoids and fluid control devices to control water direction and pressure
Advantages:
- water prove as long as the pump is good under water pressure
- easy to connect to outside of rov with tubes.
- could be used to control flutuability of rov.
Hi,
Yes it is workable. The Folaga AUV uses bilge pumps for attitude control. Another advantage is they are fairly cheap, about $20 each.
Some disadvantages are: low efficiency (2-4A at 12V for 400g thrust, for example); no reverse; depth typically limited to 50m due to the type of seals used.
Similar to the ones that we use in Fish tanks??
possibly..
However they cannot go down to that depth? or do they?
Would be more efficient to use sealed motor from pump but remove pump portion and replace with propeller.
Also, pumps are designed for minimal pressure so may not stay sealed from deep depth pressure. If that is a problem, may need to oil fill.
There are alot of blogs online for homebuilt rovs that discuss using submersible pumps as thrusters or as motors for propulsion.