T&L Publications

Greetings,

I am developing a depth-rated servo for ROVs and USVs, geared toward serious hobbyists and universities. The torque and speed specs will be similar to those of a high-torque, standard-sized R/C servo (roughly 350 oz-in max torque). The electrical interface will be identical (5-7 volts supply voltage, standard PWM interface). I am shooting for a depth rating of 200 meters.

This will be a high-quality product, with all materials and seals being suitable for long-term (up to 1 year) immersion in seawater.

I am trying to gauge interest in a servo like this. If any of you would find this useful, please respond and let me know what you would use it for, what depth it would be likely to see, and for how long it would be deployed. And, of course, I would like to know how much you would pay for it!

Thank you,
Damon

I don't really have any application but I was curious, do you plan to seal the unit with gas inside or backfill with some kind of incompressible inert fluid to keep differential pressure across the seals low?

Hi...we also tried developing a low-cost underwater servo. The design we came up with worked fine until there was some significant lateral force on the servo shaft- the design we had couldn’t balance low seal drag with the ability to maintain O-ring seal when the shaft was pushed to the side. I suspect some kind of bearing or bushing outside of the sealed cavity is required to make a good shaft seal.

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