3D Printed Military Submersible

Engineers in ORNL made military’s first 3D-printed 30 feet long submersible hull made from carbon fiber composite material.
The Optionally Manned Technology Demonstrator is a prototype vessel that could be used to deploy divers, logistics capabilities, and sensors. It was made much cheaper and faster when compared with traditional manufacturing methods.

We don't need more weapons guys. We need more technology for permanent peace.





Source news release with more information:

https://energy.gov/eere/articles/navy-partnership-goes-new-depths-first-3d-printed-submersible

3D Printable DIY Scuba Diving Thrusters

Someone developed low-cost 3d printable underwater thrusters for scuba diving. There is a full set of instructions and files available.


Tech specs:

• 1.85 mph underwater speed! 
• 20 minutes runtime. 
• $153 for flying underwater at speed of 3 km/h
• DT700 brushless motors: 2 pcs x $14
• Kort nozzle for DT700: 2 pcs x $35
• ESC speed controller at least 40A with BEC: $4
• Servo tester: $5
• Slide Potentiometer any from 5K to 30K Linear: $2
• SLA battery 9Ah: 2 pcs x $22

Here are the thrusters in action:





Detailed construction guide and all the files:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Underwater-Wrist-Thruster-185-Mph/

Hackaday.io project page:

https://hackaday.io/project/27134-arm-underwater-thruster

DIY Open Source 3D Printable Submersible Glider Drone

Alex Williams developed and built this sophisticated open source submersible glider drone. 3D printed elements are the main components.


Project description:

There has been a breakthrough with low cost autonomous drones and as this capability has matured a wide range of hobby and commercial applications have developed. There are no affordable extended duration underwater exploration platforms and this project aims to address this need. 

Utilising commodity hardware, 3D printed parts and an open-source autopilot, I aim to produce a low cost and versatile underwater glider capable of extended missions of up to weeks at a time. I hope that by having this platform available, it would reduce the cost of underwater projects for all, from hobbyists, amateur scientists to seafood farmers

Video of mechanical motion, buoyancy drive, and central mass movement assembly:





Underwater testing of the glider in a pond:




Project Hackaday.io page with all the details:

https://hackaday.io/project/20458-open-source-underwater-glider

3D Printable Ocean Sensor Buoy

As I live near Danube and Drava (Drau) rivers in Croatia I wanted to explore possibilities to measure environmental data and make them publicly available.  As I searched around for DIY or open source sensor projects I found this one which wants to develop open source ocean weather buoy with 3d printable hull. It looks like the project development is in some kind of pause but the idea behind it looks solid and one can get many useful details out of it.

The sensor pack sphere is made from two 3d printed parts, one can be transparent if you want to have small solar photo-voltaic cell power source.  There is also a pressure equalization valve installed since the internal pressure changes due to water pressure, temperature and movement so it allows air to to move but prevents  water from entering.

My plan is to cooperate with local HackLab and Croatian, Hungarian and Serbian environmental NGOs and see if we can use it to track river water data (temperature, flow, pH, UV radiation, noise, particles etc). I'll still need to research some low cost water quality sensors. If we deploy few of them in Danube they could even reach the Black Sea.

Buoy in scale to human hand, you can clearly see the antenna for cellular or data connection. It could probably be used for different bands if you use it in open waters, there are many low power solutions even with satellite communications and Arduino.

Buoy modules and parts overview:

Early prototype:

Project homepage with development blog and .STL files:

https://opensourceoceanweatherbuoy.wordpress.com/

Fathom Underwater Drone

3d printing is used here for prototyping of a small underwater submersible drone or R.O.V. Is the revolution in submersible DIY robots here? Quadcopters are everywhere, we need more submarines!




Company homepage:

http://www.fathomdrone.com/

More information:

http://www.rapidgrowthmedia.com/innovationnews/0129fathom.aspx

If you are interested in submersible DIY vehicles OpenROV is a must-see project:

http://www.openrov.com/

Maersk wants to 3d print replacement parts on their ships to reduce cost

Maersk is huge shipping and industrial conglomerate from Denmark. It has been the largest container ship operator and supply vessel operator in the world since 1996.

When they say that they want to use 3d printing aboard their fleet vessels to make replacement parts, you know it is serious.
This is a major announcement by a gigantic company and we will probably hear more about it in the future.
If they are interested, other companies will follow their lead also.

Ocean crossing transport ships and other facilities like oil rigs are incredibly complex and sensitive to mechanical failures. When you think of thousands and thousands of replacement parts needed in the middle of the sea you can get the idea how a ship based 3d printer could be extremely useful and practical. Human lives are often in danger due critical infrastructure failure and also in repair operations. Just to get needed part by helicopter or smaller boat is cost and risk in itself. When you would consider time and fuel savings in the case of Maers, we are probably speaking of millions of dollars range on yearly basis.

There is some irony in the fact that 3d printing technology will maybe drastically reduce the need for global shipping so the Maersk could loose profits in their container transport operations.
We live in interesting times.

AP interview with Enrico Dini about 3d printing ocean reefs for maritime environment restoration

Earlier interview with Enrico Dini about 3d printing building structures:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2012/02/enrico-dini-3d-printed-houses.html