It’s been a while since I used sketchup. Actually, it’s been a while since I’ve posted here, hasn’t it?
Anyhow, I thought I’d resolve to post a simple sketch every day. This is not so much to enlighten the world as to engage in practice.
Anyhow, this was about the simplest thing that I could think of that would still stretch my talent, in that I had to make a handle that sticks out of the cup.
I’m still running, right? Good. Just testing.
I have been reading a book on Industrial Plastics, which describes the properties of several kinds of plastics. I have been considering this information in regard to covering the Gulf of Mexico floor with a layer of plastic to seal off leakage from fissures, as discussed in the previous post.
Well, a good candidate for this job is called Polyamide-imide, or PAI. It was marketed in 1972 by Amoco Chemical Company, under the trade name Torlon.
It has a relative density of 1.41, so that even without rocks mixed in, it will sink and stay sunk. But the really special thing about it is the incredible pressures it can withstand.
Tensile strength: 26,830 pounds per square inch. Compressive strength: 39,900 psi.
Forty thousand pounds per square inch! That should take care of sealing any fissures, redirecting oil flow back into the main hole, from which it can be harvested by the spillinator.
Lest you’re concerned about melting, it has a heat resistance of 260 degrees centigrade. That should keep it in place.
Industrial production of petroleum-based plastics runs to billions of tons annually, which is millions of tons per day. As mentioned, a million tons is sufficient to cover a square kilometer with a layer of plastic one meter thick. So it wouldn’t take long to begin this operation.
Here’s a refinement of the docking operation equipment concept. The docking mechanism has expanded into a funnel and there’s a guide post in front to help the ROV driver find the correct position.
The ROV design has become more detailed, though of course this is nothing like a real world ROV. Real ROVs frankly look like box-shaped messes of tubing and aren’t very visually appealing. Anyhow, by making my own design, I avoid corporate patent trouble.
I suspect that Youtube isn’t linking my video because it uses music, and though Kevin MacLeod’s music is in the public domain, maybe someone in Youtube doesn’t know that. Or maybe I should have included a link to his site, I don’t know. Anyhow, my go-around will be to make more videos, this time without music.
Just a little status report — er, note. I have been working today on a spillinator video. This one goes to about two minutes. It’s got background music!
No spillinator is complete without a spill. Here’s my first attempt at spill portrayal.
This picture illustrates the spillinator in mid-assembly. It reveals the interior cuts to the TEUs and shows how the ROVs can lower the TEUs into place.
I added a prop housing to the rear of the ROVs and also put ‘fog’ into the picture to give more of a sense of distance. If you look in the lower center, you can just barely see the borehole.
I figured out how to change the background so that it looks sea-like. Also, I’m using PNG graphics here, so there’s no loss. That’s why the chimney looks sharper.
For my next trick, I’m either going to do an x-ray of the spillinator, or a build sequence.
Engineer Zero 