Accessible Deep Ocean Base With Aquatic Ribbon Elevator

The ocean is largely undiscovered, and I designed and created a model of my ocean base to think of how humans can spread into this still unexplored space. With water pressure, currents, oxygen availability, issues of accessibility, and problems galore, I designed a base around these difficulties.

Only 5% of the ocean has been explored!

Some goals I imposed are:

1. Must provide at least a liveable condition
2. Must not cost a ridiculous amount (such as through placing millions of dollars of batteries to circumvent energy production)
3. Simple to build (As it is the ocean floor, it has to be not too hard to bring the materials down)
4. Have one unique factor to the base

To achieve these goals, this underwater shelter/base focuses on its ease of build, accessibility, and structural resiliency. Its ease of building is reached through everything being contained in one shell, and not having many complex walls, pillars, etc. Its structural resiliency is reached through its shell's shape, but also by the panels, which would be made of polycarbonate, which is a very strong material, and also is easy to bring down to the ocean floor, as it can be transported in panels, which is easier to bring than whole walls. Finally, its accessibility is reached through the ribbon elevator, which I designed from the inspiration of the ideas and concepts of space elevators, which I find the idea of fascinating. Through the ribbon-type structure, oxygen and electricity could be sent down into the base for use, and through the elevator, resources such as food, and everyday essentials can be sent down, and people can go into the base and back to the surface very easily.

Physical Model:

• 3D Printer
• Filament (PLA/PETG for structural and furniture, TPU for elevator wheels)
• Arduino (any kind, but I used a nano every)
• Daughterboard
• Wires
• Motor Controller Chip (I used an L293D)
• Battery (and battery holder)
• Motor (I used a n20 motor)
• Soldering Kit
• Soldering Pen
• Solder
• Brass Wool Tip Cleaner
• Solder Sucker
• Tape
• Glue
• Paint
• Ribbon

Concept:

• Titanium Tubing (for the frame)
• Cables (for support of the frame)
• Furniture
• Floors (Any load bearing metal)
• Polycarbonate Panels
• Cable (For the elevator, with embedded gas pipes for oxygen and electrical wires for electricity)
• Titanium Elevator
• Turbine (for harvesting the current's energy)

I utilized the supplied truncated icosahedron, as it is a shape closer to a sphere, the most optimal shape for strength from water pressure, but is not as hard to build, being able to be built from a frame and panels attached to its sides.

I created a frame by taking out everything except the frame in the truncated icosahedron, except for the bottom, to increase stability, and strengthen the potential weak spot, where the side is not a perfect polygon, but half a hexagon.

Next, I put the floors and furniture according to my flooring plan. To maximize structural strength, I designed the floors to be part of the support for the frame, and the middle hole, designed for the later elevator also fills a structural purpose. I maximized the structural integrity of the base by utilizing all structures in the base to support the frame and fight against the water pressure which is a big issue in ocean exploration.

Now, we get to the unique part of my base, the ribbon elevator. The ribbon would also have gas pipes and electrical wires, which allow the oxygen and electricity to travel down to the base for use. On a larger scale, this could also be made through cables, increasing its strength. I picked this type of elevator because of its ease of build, as dropping a ribbon or cable into the sea is much easier than building a structure spanning hundreds or thousands of meters to the ocean floor. I designed the model of the elevator with a ribbon, and two TPU wheels connected to DC motors, allowing it to climb up and down. With enough friction and a grippy tread on the wheels, it allows itself to hold at a position without power, and also climb straight up, against gravity. The 2 motors in the model is driven by an Arduino nano every, with the use of a L293D Motor Driver, for forward and backward movement.

There are some additional aspects I also added. I designed a turbine, to harvest energy from the low-speed ocean current, which acts as emergency electricity in case there is a problem with the ribbon/cable reaching the ocean surface, which is supposed to send electricity. I also added some basic furniture, for a few people to sleep, work, and play (ping pong) inside the base. I did not bother with adding too much furniture, as people can travel out of the base back to the surface easily, and would therefore act more as a temporary shelter for experimenting or for the experience.

This is where we finally get to build the model! For the structure, I utilized PLA/PETG and TPU 3D Printing, while using glue, to make the unique shape possible to be made as a design without too much difficulty. Most of the parts are toolless, in that they simply fit over each other, with tolerances to snap them together. I also soldered together the circuitry for the elevator's 2 motors, using an H-Bridge for reversible movement, and connected 3 1.5V batteries for a combined 4.5V. The Tinkercad design of the circuitry greatly helped, as I was able to test and debug before I built the actual design. After a few tries, my design for the elevator now works consistently, with the TPU treads being grippy enough to stay without any power. Seeing my design come together was awesome!

This project was awesome to work on. I felt very accomplished when the project came together, especially in the moment the ribbon elevator, which I thought of as a "it would be so cool if this works" idea, worked as I imagined it to be. I also gained experience in 3D Printing, trying out TPU for the first time, and modifying my printer and settings for hours to finally get it to work.

I am fascinated and interested by this unique design of an elevator, and with more resources, I hope to be able to make a bigger model, to test its viability, for use in special areas such as ocean exploration, space, or even for normal buildings and skyscrapers.

I also found ocean exploration and habitats to be a very interesting topic, and in the future, I hope to create larger models, and more sophisticated designs, and potentially even test it inside of real bodies of water.

I hope you found reading this and potentially replicating the project fun or interesting, and I hope you will be find or be interested in my potential instrutables posts! (I have some future plans!)