DESIGN OF PROPULSION SYSTEM FOR UNDERWATER REMOTELY OPERATED VEHICLE (ROV)

Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) has been widely used in oil and gas industry to assist in the development of offshore oil fields. The use of appropriate propulsion device for ROV is important from the point of view of higher propulsive efficiency and directional stability as thruster; the main component of the propulsion system, is one of the most common sources of failure of ROVs.
This report is on a project to design a propulsion system for a ROV .The primary focus of this design is on mechanical design of the ROV with special emphasis on the propulsion system; propeller, motor, and configuration of the thruster. The propulsion system includes the forward thruster to propel the vehicle and side thruster for turning. Water current acting on the ROV will not be considered in this research. Research need to be done to calculate the needed thrust in order for the ROV to maneuver under the water at the desired speed. Collection of technical details and data regarding the existing ROV in the market will be done. A study on types of propulsion system needs to be carried out in order to determine the best propulsion system. A simple hydrodynamic analysis of a typical ROV has been carried out to compare the motion values with the actual performance data.
Drag is very important in designing the thruster, it give significant effect to the power input of the motor. In this report the description of the specification and the design concept for a new ROV propulsion system has been describe, and discussed the mechanical design, namely in what concerns modularity, configurations, and mechanical.