PowerGenix Helps Students Win ROV Competition

PowerGenix Inc. of San Diego, California, donated nickel-zinc (NiZn) batteries to the University of San Diego High School (USDHS) students who took first place in a regional competition of underwater remote operated vehicles (ROV). The event was held at the UCSD Natatorium and sponsored by the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center in partnership with NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

Competing against six other regional teams, the four USDHS 16- and 17-year olds – Juan Batiz-Benet, Michael MacIntyre, Nicholas Prsha and Dominic Schmied – spent 1,000 hours and $449.70 of their own money to design and develop their ROV. Using borrowed and donated systems, scrap parts, salvaged cameras, lab space donated by DeepSea Power & Light and engineering trial and error, the team built and operated the winning ROV. They then went on to the national ROV competition held June 17-19 at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, to vie against 28 winners of regional contests. Although they did not win the grand prize, they did win five other awards for their efforts. Team members had to design and develop a ROV capable of doing a series of underwater maneuvers using a computer joy stick control, video cameras and a moveable claw to cap an oil well, attach a communications probe, and amend a part of the Hubble space telescope. Between each task, the “pit-crew” had five minutes to modify the ROV and prepare it for the next task. It had to be durable and powerful yet extremely agile to finish each simulated real-world scenario in less than five minutes.

One of the challenges the team faced was relocating the primary power, from an external location that was traditionally “topside” and consisted of bulky lead-acid batteries and a cumbersome tether, to a location onboard the ROV itself. The team wanted the advantages of onboard power, but needed to incorporate it into the design of the vehicle in a way that didn’t compromise its buoyancy or maneuverability. The PowerGenix high energy density NiZn battery packs proved to be the key to solving this design challenge. The significantly smaller and lighter-weight batteries were packaged in a waterproof container and attached to the vehicle. The high power and very low impedance design of the PowerGenix battery provided plenty of onboard power, enabling the use of a more sophisticated propulsion system.

Dan Squiller, CEO of PowerGenix, said, “These students are our future engineers and scientists, and we are thrilled that our batteries were able to contribute to the winning design of their ROV.”