As part of our ongoing community and sponsorship work, PAR Group have been working closely with the University of Southampton’s – Human-Powered Submarine society (SUHPS) to find ways to improve their submarine. As a team, SUHPS design, build and race human-powered submarines against other talented engineering teams from around the world. This year will be no different when the group head to QinetiQ's Ocean Basin testing facility at Haslar, Gosport, to compete in the 2020 International Submarine Races.
After assessing the different systems in use and current material choices, PAR and SUHPS came up with a solution focused on improving the overall efficiency of the transmission and propulsion system.
After much deliberation we decided to change the material of manufacture for the gearbox casing and propeller hubs. These vital components were previously manufactured from aluminium, which we chose to change to acetal. As a material, acetal has good mechanical strength, impact resistance and excellent resistance to hydrolysis, making it the ideal plastic for applications in submerged environments. By simply changing the material choice to acetal, this will vastly reduce the overall weight of the submarine resulting in improved efficiency.
From the dimensional drawings provided, we calculated the total amount of semi-finished material needed to complete the components. We sent the University of Southampton's - Human-Powered Submarine society the acetal sheet and acetal rod required free of charge ready for machining.