The Vehicle
SAUVIM is built around an open-framed structure enclosed by a flooded composite fairing. With six aluminium pressure vessels for housing the electronics, it has been studied in order to facilitate high-depth upgrades.
Its movement is controlled by eight thrusters located around the center of mass. The four vertical move the vehicle in the Z-axis (heave); the two, internally mounted, horizontal thrusters move the vehicle in the Y-axis (sway); and the two, externally-mounted, horizontal thrusters move the vehicle in the X-axis (surge).
The lower frame houses only the NI-MH battery pack, while the upper frame hosts all the essential electronics, visual hardware, navigation and mission sensors in six cylindrical pressure vessels.
The Power Source
SAUVIM runs on battery power, using several NI-MH banks.
The thrusters have a dedicated battery bank separate from the rest of systems on board SAUVIM. The battery bank provides power to SAUVIM’s eight thrusters; 4 vertical, 2 lateral, and 2 horizontal.
A junction box was introduced to the design of the battery system to simplify both discharging and charging of the batteries in a unified platform. The junction box routes power from the batteries to the thrusters and from the charger to the batteries.
With this configuration, SAUVIM can run for several hours (~20) before needing a recharge.
The NI-MH Battery system for SAUVIM was completed in April 2007 and is proven to be a great improvement with respect to the old prototype lead-acid system.