Week 12:
The AV wiring cleanup that began at the end of week eleven stretched into the majority of this week as well. Working through the sphere’s video system is slower going than it might sound. With so many cables going different directions, cable routing can be complex. Progress is real, just not dramatic on any given day.
Monday was spent continuing that work.
Tuesday had an important task: verifying Ben’s repair work on the in-sphere panel responsible for detecting vehicle grounds. Grounds are a persistent reality when working with a system that spends its life in and around seawater. Everything is wet, and grounds can be genuinely difficult to track down while causing a variety of issues depending on the electrical system affected. Having a reliable detection panel is important, and verifying the repair with a second set of eyes is a required step.
Wednesday brought a major turning point. The team officially kicked off reassembly with a meeting, covering the plan and sequence for bringing everything back together.
A smaller task filled Thursday, cleaning up the wiring inside the main ballast vent valve. This is an electrically controlled valve that releases the air held in the main ballast tank when Alvin is ready to begin descent. Existing solder connections were replaced with a pin connector. Solder joints get the job done, but a connector makes it much easier to isolate and test individual components.
Friday held no surprises, simply continued work on the audio visual system wiring.
The weekend held a big adventure. Around ten members of the Alvin team headed up to New Hampshire for ice climbing and mountaineering. My first time ice climbing.
Week 13:
The AV wiring cleanup continued through Monday, Tuesday, and into part of Wednesday.
On Wednesday I also helped Scott begin reassembly of the data bottles, specifically attaching the endcaps back onto the chassis of each bottle and threading the associated wires back through the bottles. A finicky task, as the bottles are densely populated to utilize space as efficiently as possible.
Thursday was spent servicing the pressure relief valves on the compensation system. The compensation system generally does not see a pressure difference between the oil inside and the seawater outside, as the comp bladders are squeezed by the water until the pressure equalizes. If an issue causes the internal pressure to rise above the outside, the relief valves open. They are set to an unusually small threshold of 2 to 3 PSI, because anything greater will damage housings.
A new project came in on Friday, pulling the in sphere wiring work aside for the time being. Inside the sphere, the oxygen supply bottles are stored in a rack, and I began a disassembly and cleanup of that rack. The oxygen system is part of Alvin’s life support, and though the rack itself is not a complex component nor in direct contact with the gas supply or people, the cleaning was done with mild chemicals to ensure no contamination to the oxygen system in the future. Small repairs were made to bent components and damaged threads, and a few screws were shortened to make installing the bottles easier going forward.
