Electrical Infrastructure
Battery Pod Board
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The battery pod circuit board interfaces the battery with the merge board and the battery charger. Its primary purpose it to protect the battery and provide fuel gauge style capacity indication. These functions are provided through a fuse for over-current protection, a comparator for under-voltage shutdown, and a dedicated fuel gauge IC that measures voltage and current flow to provide precise Coulomb counting and full charge detection. The fuel gauge bar graph can be activated by a reed switch, through serial communication, and automatically when the remaining capacity changes. Click here for more information about the battery system |
Merge Board
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The merge board contains the main circuitry that combines the power supplied by the vehicle's two battery pods, and distributing that power to each of the four thrusters and two marker droppers (all of which are fused), as well as passing it off to the main power distribution boards. Inherent in this function is the ability to individually turn on and off power to each thruster and marker, according to an external kill switch and commands sent from the vehicle's CPU. A secondary function of the merge board is to isolate the RS-232 signals from each thruster and bring them down to TTL voltage levels, before handing the signals off to the serial hub board. Click here for more information on the Merge Board. |
Distribution Boards
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The Power Distribution subsystem converts power at the battery bus voltage (from the Merge board) into clean power at voltage levels appropriate for the vehicle's electronic devices. These devices receive power through ports that monitor current flow and (in all cases except for the vehicle's CPU port) shut off power to a device that appears to be faulting. LEDs indicate whether the port is powered on (green) or has been powered off in the event of a fault (red). In addition, electrical isolation is maintained between the vehicle's thrusters and actuators and the vehicle's electronics to control noise. Click here for more info on the Triton Power Distribution Boards.
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Serial Hub Board
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The serial interface board is a 14-port USB to RS232 adapter which allows the vehicle's computer to communicate with the rest of the submarine. The serial board sits between the merge and stack power distribution boards. |
Computer
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The computer is a Commel LS-371 3.5" single-board computer with a 2.0 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 2 GB of memory. |
Switchbox
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Triton's switchbox consists of the kill, mission start, and main power switches. Pulling down a breaker shaped handle disables the thrusters. The handle bar glows red when the vehicle is killed and green when unkilled. The kill switch utilizes epoxy-cast electronics, magnets, and reed switches for contactless actuation. The mission start switch uses similar components and functions as a momentary pushbutton. The switch glows blue when a mission is running. The main power switch is an off-the-shelf polyurethane toggle switch.
Click here for more information about the Triton switchbox.
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