In the fall Sally Andreola's 5th grade class at Harwich Elementary contacted
David Breski's Harwich High School Engineering class for help with their water
collection efforts at Pleasant Bay. The HHS engineering
class took up the challenge to design and build two different devices for
collecting water samples. One is a remotely operated vehicle
(ROV) and the other is an air powered launcher that sends a collection
device out into the bay.
In April, the two classes went on a joint field trip to deploy and test the
two different devices. The high school students explained how the
different devices functioned and how they were built. The fifth
graders got to test out the devices and the engineering students gathered
valuable information and feedback to incorporate as improvements into the devices.
The ROV is driven by a small 12V bilge pump and the flow of the water is controlled
by electric sprinkler valves. The ROV is connected to a control box using
actual ROV tether provided to the team by Igus, Inc. The frame is constructed of
PVC pipe and is designed to be neutrally buoyant and will float just at the
surface.
The launcher is also made of PVC pipe and is pressurized using a simple bicycle
pump. An electric sprinkler valve remotely controlled, controls the
release of the air pressure to propel the collection device. The
collection device is retrieved by the attached string tether.
