ROV FOR UNDER WATER OPERATIONS
A Remotely Operated
Vehicle (ROV-200MK II) has been developed and successfully tested
for under water operations. The ROV was tested upto a depth of
200 meters off the coast of Chennai. The vehicle has been developed
by the Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI),
Durgapur, with support from National Institute of Ocean Technology
(NIOT), Chennai.
The ROV consists
of an open frame structure with cylindrical buoyancy packages,
landing pads, a sub-sea control box, under water sensors, a camera
system and five AC thrusters. It has a maximum payload of 60 kilograms
and a propulsion speed of 2.0 knots.
Meanwhile the deep
sea technology group of the Department of Ocean Development is
actively involved in the development of a technology for the mining
of polymetallic nodules from ocean depth of 6,000 meters. The
NIOT has taken up this project in collaboration with the university
of Siegen, Germany. However, an under water mining system comprising
a crawler-based mining machine with a flexible raiser system has
been developed and tested for operations upto a depth of 410 meters.
This is considered a significant milestone in establishing India’s
capability to take up the utilisation of ocean resources at all
depths.
