Newbie, and dive propulsion vehicles

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buluayam:
Could I ask a few questions?

1) What sort of applications would a DPV be useful for - both recreational/technical/commercial?

2) Is the DPV an application where there is demand for? As far as I understand, it is a very niche application and the market size for such an application is small - even for commercial uses. However, I wondered whether this is because an application like a DPV isn't extremely useful, or is it because of the limitations of current designs (that I plan to address)?

3) Are there any DPV users here? Could you tell me more about what you think of existing DPVs, ie the pros and cons - and what features/characteristics would really 'get your blood boiling'? :)

I think I'll leave the questions to these three for the moment, thank you everyone in advance for your patience and replies!

The real market is the military...
 
It seems interesting to me that the most common complaints are in the burn time and weight - both of which I intend to address with my design, hence where I see the advantages!

Jeff: I have heard of the Gavin Scooters before this too, and they come highly recommended - any particular reason for your sudden *cough*? :wink:

Andy: Yup - I'm originally from Malaysia, though in the UK at the moment.

Paul: That is a good idea, although access to them is somewhat more difficult - I'm doing more of an overall survey to see where the best opportunities and potentials lie. Even with technical divers it doesn't seem too bad an opportunity, however the general impression I get about DPVs isn't fantastic.
 
buluayam:
Jeff: I have heard of the Gavin Scooters before this too, and they come highly recommended - any particular reason for your sudden *cough*? :wink:
I owned one, after I tried an X-Scooter, it was sold. (To make way for the X)
 
Kev: Thanks for the article, a really good read!

One point that I wondered, there were a few parameters that were used to evaluate DPVs such as burn time etc. One of them, manoeuvrability, does anyone have a good idea of what influences this?

The reason why I am asking this, is because the applications I normally deal with are for propulsion on ships - there is less concern about this factor as all control are dealt with by a motor/engine anyway, so I am not too sure how/what affects the manoeuvrability for a diver.

My first thoughts would be to do with the shape of the DPV, ie the hydrodynamics - how streamlined it is, how easy does it cut through the water, etc - is this right? Presumedly it is actually the same factor that is dealt with in the shape, ie drag on vehicle?

Thanks all for the feedback, once again :14:
 
buluayam:
Kev: Thanks for the article, a really good read!

One point that I wondered, there were a few parameters that were used to evaluate DPVs such as burn time etc. One of them, manoeuvrability, does anyone have a good idea of what influences this?

The reason why I am asking this, is because the applications I normally deal with are for propulsion on ships - there is less concern about this factor as all control are dealt with by a motor/engine anyway, so I am not too sure how/what affects the manoeuvrability for a diver.

My first thoughts would be to do with the shape of the DPV, ie the hydrodynamics - how streamlined it is, how easy does it cut through the water, etc - is this right? Presumedly it is actually the same factor that is dealt with in the shape, ie drag on vehicle?

Thanks all for the feedback, once again :14:


I find that length effects manuverability for me. My 26 Amp/hr tube on my silent submersion turns like a Typhoon class submarine doing a carzy Ivan as compared to my 18 amp/hr tube. I have used minizeps versus predators and find length is a factor too.
 
Is this controllable by the diver, ie depending on how they manoeuvre their own bodies etc? Or is it safe to say that I should treat the diver + DPV unit like a whole vehicle, hence the effect of the manoeuvrability of the DPV?

Sorry for all these questions, diving is truly something new to me and I want to understand more about it all so as to be able to design the vehicle appropriately.

Oh, another question that popped into my head, what is a good speed for these vehicles to run at? I know this would vary from diver to diver; but the reason why I asked, is because if I'm not mistaken there is a maximum speed a diver should be wooshing along in the water (especially for technical diving) due to rebreather/mask limitations? Could someone enlighten me? :D
 

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