Student engineers at the University of San Diego High School needed a battery to power their underwater remote operated vehicle (ROV). They found a solution with the nickel-zinc (NiZn) battery from PowerGenix, San Diego.
The students entered their vehicle in the Fourth Annual ROV Competition, held at the NASA Johnson Space Center’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab in Houston. Their entry won the Innovation in Engineering Award.
The designers placed the small battery on-board the ROV, eliminating the need for bulky wires and a cord connected to a land-based power source. That gave the ROV increased maneuverability when competing against 26 other teams in a series of timed underwater missions at the three-day event.
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The simulated missions included capping an oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, repairing a damaged fiber-optic communications cable, and installing a new instrument module on the Hubble Space Telescope. They completed the events with ROV tools including a remote-controlled airplane controller, video cameras, and a moveable claw.
“We are thrilled that through teamwork and perseverance, we were able to engineer an ROV that made the judges, the Marine Technology Society and NASA take notice,” said team member Nick Prsha. “As one of the only teams in our division to utilize on-board power, the judges were impressed by the complex design elements incorporated into our ROV, made possible by PowerGenix’s innovative battery technology.”
PowerGenix’s NiZn rechargeable battery technology is designed to replace high power NiCd and NiMH components. It targets high-rate discharge applications such as cordless power tools and high-powered military applications. For more information, see www.powergenix.com.
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