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Towing tank resistance test
By the end of last week, we managed to take the finished hull to the towing tank facilities at TU Berlin to conduct our experiments on the resistance vs. speed. The aXatlantic made her very first contact with water and also did a very good job as the test results and the below pictures and videos…
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CNC milled parts!
Thanks to the chair infAR planing systems of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar we are able to use their CNC machine for making the engine parts! Thank you so much for providing us with the machine!
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Finishing the hull
During the last weeks, we managed to finish the hull to a stage where we could take it to the towing tank for the resistance test. First step was to remove the laminated hull from the mould which was quite a challenge – resulting in the near destruction of the mold an a lot of brutal…
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Vacuum laminating the hull
Here comes the exciting part of the building process: After laying four dry layers of carbon fabric on the mold, we started the timer and the mixing of epoxy resin. All layers are throughly wet out and the wet laminate is covered in perforated film and absorber material before closing the vacuum film. We…
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CFD simulation of the thruster
Although the optimization of a thruster for our vessel has not started jet, here are some pictures of the reference design I already investigated. The propeller is a four-bladed Ka4-70 in a nozzle 19A by MARIN – a combination for which a lot of reliable experimental data can be found. The aim of the reference…
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Sponsoring of hull building materials and more
A couple of month ago I was trying to join this project with my study at the TU Berlin, as this allows me to put more time and energy into our work without letting my degree slide. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Cura Hochbaum, leader of the research group for Dynamics of Maritime Systems, got interested in our…
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Finishing the mold
After a lot of sanding and filling, the mold was ready to receive paint. More putty was used after the first paint job, to get rid of the ribs structure and the finished mold is covered in wax to make sure the hull does not stick to the surface.
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Back to work!
After a longer break we are back at the shop – working hard to get the hull done within the next two weeks. Sanding and smoothing is almost done!
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Wiring diagram
Decisions are made: we will be using a Pixhawk (using Ardurover firmware) as the main unit. It will do all the navigation and steering tasks. Via serial connection an Arduino will keep track of the health status (mainly battery / solar power) and will set drive modes according to that via MavLink (lower power –…
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Smoothing the inner Deck
The first steps of the smoothing were done today including the trimming of the edges and a first light sanding of the surface.
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