Human Powered Submarine

June 30, 2007

Day 5: Recurring Problems, but a Good Show Nonetheless

I am writing this final blog entry from my couch at home in Pittsburgh, PA. Yes, the 9th ISR has come to a close, with the final day of racing this past Friday. On the final day, Mercury made three runs to varying degrees of success. We finished the first run, but with a slower time due to the familiar issues of surfacing and the hatch coming off. The second run was aborted at the starting line because of the air hose for Brandon, our former dive manager and Friday pilot, getting caught in the drive train. The final race of the year for Mercury was the most exciting, pitting Michigan vs. the Maroon Harpoon from Texas A&M in a head-to-head drag race. Sadly, we experienced that same problems as before and just barely lost to the Aggies. However, we did finish highly, placing 4th overall and 3rd in the 1-person propeller category. We also received an honorable mention for innovation for our automatic ballast system.

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Posted by aaronwj at 07:41 PM | Comments (0)

June 28, 2007

Day 4: New School Record!

Willie has piloted to a new school record, while moving UM up to third place in the standings, with a run of 4.958 knots.
After final tweaking of control and drive systems, we were able to have two very good runs this afternoon, including the new school record. We also are now running close behind the number 2 team in the single person propeller class, Texas A&M at 5.022 knots. With some final improvements to the steering controls we may be able to move even higher before the close of competition tomorrow.

Unfortunately the final decision was made to not attempt runs with the advanced ballast system that Willie and Dan had worked so hard on the last several months. Software issues and the time needed to tune the device would have limited our ability to run this afternoon. We decided that it was better to go for better runs than stopping to test and tune the balast system. Never-the-less we have a new school record and better ranking for our efforts. Hopefully we can have the system fully tested for use in the competition.

Other highlights of the day include our team helping the University of British Columbia get into the water for the first time today. As the team only has four members, most of whom don't scuba dive they needed assistance for in-water testing and inspections. While they are not yet ready to race, we hope to do what we can to see another team complete the course.

Looking forward to the last day of competition we plan on some small repairs and tunning of the sub to hopefully more higher in the final standings. With the sub in good shape and a good run on the board, we also may participate in some of the alternate races on the final day. There may be both a slalom course as well as drag-racing on Friday. Stay tunned for the final day of competition.

(Sorry for the short entry today. I'm not as verbose as our normal blogger and it's getting late.)

Posted by mrross at 10:58 PM | Comments (0)

June 27, 2007

Day 3: Preparing for the Rest of the Week

Day 3 of the ISR came and went without a faster Mercury time. However, we were able to get three runs in throughout the day, all which showed us things to improve with the sub. One our third run of the day, we even saw the sub reach what we think is her fastest speed yet. This shows that Mercury's performance has the potential to improve, once all the bugs are worked out. The automatic ballast system's casing has been tested and improved as to prevent leaks, and we should be able to put this system into operation tomorrow. All in all, the last two days of the race should go a lot more smoothly thanks to the lessons learned these first three days.

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Posted by aaronwj at 11:40 PM | Comments (0)

June 26, 2007

Tuesday photos

Other teams inside the model basin

ISR Day 2: Faster, but Still Room for Improvement (and Repairs)

At the second day of races at ISR, our team did much better, finishing the day at 3rd place in the 1-person sub category with 4.3 knots (4.9 mph). However, we did not escape completely unscathed, as our control system proved to be somewhat troublesome. Some small flaws combined together to cause Mercury to crash into the wall on our third run of the day. The damage was only minor, and we spent the rest of the day making adjustments to the sub. Tomorrow should go even better, as we are confident that our sub can break the 5 knot barrier. We also plan to refine our sub's systems, hopefully adding the automatic ballast system to the mix.

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Posted by aaronwj at 09:43 PM | Comments (1)

June 25, 2007

Sunday and Monday Pictures

Sunday involved getting th trailer to competition.

Monday was devoted to final assembly, safety checks, and initial runs.

ISR Day 1: In the Water and Almost There

Today was the first day of racing at the 9th International Submarine Races. After a long day in the sun, we ended the day with a working sub and a couple runs under our belt. While we haven't exactly finished a race yet, we have made good success in finishing the assembly of the sub and getting our rhythm down in the water. We're confident that with today's experience, tomorrow will be a better day in all regards.

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Posted by aaronwj at 08:29 PM | Comments (1)

June 24, 2007

Sat. Photos

Some photos from our day of travel before competition.

Welcome to the 9th International Submarine Races!

Greetings from sunny Bethesda, MD! The University of Michigan Human Powered Submarine team has successfully made its way to the Washington, DC area to compete in the 9th International Submarine Races. We've run into some minor snags thus far, but nothing that will keep us from being serious competitors this week.

The team assembled in Ann Arbor, MI on the night of Friday, June 23 to pack up our submarine, Mercury, and all our equipment for the long trip. Early the next morning (especially for college students on a Saturday), the team set out for Washington, DC. We had almost made it to Ohio when we ran into our first problem - a blown transmission seal in one of our vehicles. After this three-hour delay or so, we got back on the road and continued on eastward. The team made its way through Ohio, Pennsylvania, and then into Maryland with no further problems. We pulled into Rockville, MD around 10:30 at night, after a full day's driving. After talking with the team member we left in Toledo with his broken car, we all went to bed in anticipation of a busy day Sunday.

Continue reading "Welcome to the 9th International Submarine Races!"

Posted by aaronwj at 09:14 PM | Comments (0)