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Deepsea's hollow SeaSpheres™ are strong and lightweight, made of high-purity alumina (aluminum oxide - Al2O3) for use at extreme depths. SeaSpheres™ can be used as high-pressure flotation devices for AUVs and ROVs, deep submerged buoys for suspending oceanographic equipment, as well as many other applications limited only by your imagination. SeaSpheres™ are presently available in 3.6-inch (90mm) diameter To enhance product reliability, the SeaSpheres™ are made from alumina and are engineered with a seamless design, eliminating the potential for failure at bond or weld joints. Alumina is a very hard electrical insulator that is transparent to radio frequencies. Each SeaSphere™ is virtually chemically inert, which translates to long service life in harsh ocean environments. The SeaSphere™ will not corrode in seawater or breakdown with ultra-violet light and their operating temperature range is between -100°C to 1400°C. They are uniform and are pressure tested to be deployed at depths up to11,000 meters. |
| MECHANICAL | |||
| Material
(Sphere): |
Alumina (Aluminum Oxide - A12O3) | ||
| Purity: |
99.9% | ||
| Porosity: |
0% | ||
| Diameter: |
9.14cm +/- 0.13cm (3.60in +/- .050in) | ||
| Material
(Boot): |
Versaflex 40 | ||
| Diameter
(w/ rubber boot*): |
10.16cm +/- 0.13cm (4.00in +/- .050in) | ||
| Air Weight: | 140g +/- 1g (4.94oz +/- 0.04oz) | ||
| Net Buoyancy: | 290g (10.23oz) | ||
| Displacement: | 430g (15.17oz) | ||
| Material Density: | 3.94 g/cm³ (246 lb/ft³) | ||
| ENVIRONMENTAL | |||
| Maximum
Depth: |
11,000 meters (36,080 feet) | ||
| Minimum
Use Temperature: |
-100°C (-148°F) | ||
| Maximum
Use Temperature: |
1400°C (2552°F) | ||
| *All SeaSpheres™ are shipped with a protective rubber boot. | |||
| Spherical flotation units of 99.9% Al2O3 ceramic have been successfully produced by DeepSea Power & Light for application to 11 km ROV/AUV systems. The 3.6-inch (91.45 mm) OD seamless hollow spheres with 0.34 weight/displacement ratio have routinely withstood proof testing to 30,000 psi (207 MPa), 1000 hour sustained pressurization to 25,000 psi, and 10,000 pressure cycles to 20,000 psi (138 MPa). Each of the spheres provides 0.6 lb (272 gr) of lift. When encased in a 0.2-inch thick buoyant elastomeric boot, they withstood impact on concrete from a 6 ft elevation. Together with syntactic foam, they will provide most of the required lift for the WHOI HROV system with 36,000 ft (11 km) depth capability. An extensive QA procedure has been developed for each sphere, which requires not only adherence to tight dimensional and thickness specifications but also acoustic emission criteria during pressure testing. Deepsea Power & Light is also in the process of developing a roto-molding process for casting of alumina ceramic spheres with larger diameter for the whole range of ocean depths from 10,000 ft (3000 m) to 36,000 ft (11,000 m). Spheres with 5-inch (127 mm) and 8-inch (203.2 mm) outside diameter have already been successfully cast. The casting of even larger spheres will proceed upon acquisition of a larger furnace. More... | |||
| Specifications
subject to change without notice. Rev. 07/20/05
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