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Pelican 1400 Case
This is the third consecutive year that the USNA RoboSub has been using the Pelican 1400 as the main computer housing. It is the large, orange, waterproof case attached to the rear top of the vehicle frame. Including all of the hardware that is stored inside of it, while it is in the water it is close to neutrally buoyant.
The Pelican 1400 Case works well for the needs of our
vehicle. Its interior is just the right size to fit all of our computer
components and batteries without much empty, wasted space. The heat
generated during operation is transferred to the water through the case
without problems. There are 11 SeaCon connectors that were added to the
side of the box. They are grouped together, which allows us to keep the
interior of the box well organized. They can be seen from the outside in
the picture on the right. It is clear how organizes the inside of the
box needs to be to house all the electronics from the picture on the
right. Organization is necessary because of
the number of components it contains.
The first year the USNA team used the Pelican 1400
Case an unexpected problem occurred during the competition run. The
vehicle got down to depth and then spiraled in a circle until the time
limit was reached. The problem, it was discovered, was that the box was
compressing due to the pressure of the water, and interrupting some
connections on a circuit board. This was fixed by adding a small PVC
support in the center of the box. The PVC tube keeps the top and bottom
from compressing toward each other. Helpful Pelican Links: |
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