Underwater Motor Design

Ohmex (UK) in conjunction with Southampton University School of Engineering have won a SPARK award within the PRIME Faraday partnership programme. The award is a contribution towards the costs in the further development of a miniature integrated thruster for use in small underwater vehicle applications. The project represents a further stage in the development of sealed thrusters undertaken by the university in recent years.

It concentrates on the scalability of larger designs to a miniature prototype with the associated changes in electronic control systems and manufacturing techniques. The highly efficient design has applications in the developing miniature ROV/AUV market and as an underwater tug for use in commercial diving.

The PRIME Faraday partnership in conjunction with the DTI, previously announced the pilot system of PRIME Faraday SPARK Awards to build relationships between SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) and HEIs (Higher Education Institutes).