Abstract:
The ocean’s living resources are a treasure for current and future generations of
humankind. To sustain the resources, the scientists start to develop underwater
vehicle such as ROV’s and AUV’s to seabed mapping and sampling. This
underwater vehicle was propelled by underwater thrusters, which consists of electric
motor and propeller fix at the shaft. However, most of the available Underwater
Thrusters (UT) is not specifically meet the requirement of underwater vehicle such
as the size and the power output. In this research, new thrusters designed for
generally used in underwater vehicle. Finite element analysis was applied to
determine the optimal thickness for the motor casing regarding to operating depth.
Modular design concept was adept to make the UT component easily change if
failure such as motor malfunction or casing leaking during operation. From finite
element analysis, the optimal thickness of the casing for 1000 meter operating depth
was 12 mm for aluminum T6-6061. The new UT also easily fit to MSI300 which is
design by the researcher from UNIKL-MSI. This new thrusters significantly helps the
researcher to develop the underwater vehicle at low cost also optimal in
performance.
