PVCSub: A Submarine From the Plumbing Aisle
Rupin Chheda's submarine shell was made with basic PVC piping and Cat 6 cable.
While it’s easy to focus on space as the final frontier, there’s a whole world under the Earth’s liquid surface that is yet to be explored. Although reaching the edge of the water is infinitely more accessible than reaching the edge of space (and beyond), underwater exploration still comes with a unique set of challenges. To get started on this pursuit, electronics engineer turned educator Rupin Chheda came up with an excellent basic submarine platform that you can build mostly from the plumbing aisle at your local hardware store.
Build specifics are laid out in the project log, though the concept could likely be adapted to your own purposes as needed. The design uses an inner pressure hull made out of 75mm PVC pipe, roughly equivalent to ‘Merica 2 ½ inch pipe, containing a pair of pumps, solenoids, and pneumatic connections. Pumps transfer air between the inner shell and an outer ballast area made from a 110mm (~‘Merica 4”) PVC pipe and reducer arrangement to change the craft's buoyancy.
The system uses three thrusters for navigation, with a mounting fixture made out of 75mm PVC pipe.* Wiring is accomplished with lengths of Cat 6 cable, along with simple terminal blocks for connections. The user interface for surface control isn’t documented in the write-up, but a simple switch setup should be sufficient to get it puttering around underwater.
Of course, you could integrate more sophisticated electronics into the build, perhaps including a nice sensor suite, to turn this shell of a submarine into a sophisticated remotely operated vehicle (ROV). In other words, if you’ve ever wanted to build a submarine, but didn’t know where to start, this looks like a fantastic solution!
*You may want to consider something other than heated PVC pipe for the thruster mount to avoid the potential release of toxic gas. Duplicate at your own risk.