Study on analysis and design of a VIAM- AUV2000 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV)

This paper presents the design of the VIAM-AUV2000 autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) with a built-in cylinder for floatation and counterbalance. The modular structure, including mechanical design, electronic system, and control algorithm, ensures continuous operation for the vehicle at a depth of 50 meters underwater. The main content will consist of two parts: the mechanical implementation and the electrical system. The mechanical implementation part will focus on calculating ship hull profile and material selection; computing and simulating stress and distortion on ship hull and waterproof covering using finite element method with NX Nastran; analyzing and planning cylinder and counterbalance arrangements. At the same time, the advantages of hybrid AUV design inspired from the traditional one with thruster and fins, as well as the underactuated glider form using counterbalance and cylinder for diving and floating, are discussed specifically in the upcoming sections. The electrical system for the robot is also mentioned and clarified through the selection of sensors, actuators, and hardware design to ensure stable operation for the diving robot at a depth of 50m and operate continuously for long periods underwater by using traditional AUV mode and glider mode. Some experimental results of thruster and three-axis tilt estimators with an error of less than 1o are also presented in this paper.