Human Habitat in the Ocean

Hi, I am Ricky from Oak Park High School. I have always been fascinated with engineering and want to pursue a career in aeronautic engineering. My school offers CTE courses in both engineering and architecture where I learned many CAD skills which I used while designing my human habitat. The design is a giant sphere that can float on water or be submerged for short periods of time. It also has the capability to move around. It was inspired by a Sphero robot that I have had since I was 5 and uses similar mechanism to move. The attached file is a finished animation.

3D Modeling

• Computer
• Autodesk Revit
• Autodesk Fusion 360

The Model Habitat

• 3D printer
• PLA Grey filament
• Super Glue
• Super Glue Accelerator
• Sand Paper

The Real Habitat

• Aluminum
• Acrylic
• House Furnishings
• Grease
• Motors
• Fans
• Rubber
• Life Support Systems

The first thing is to brainstorm possible ideas and decide on one that will work the best. After choosing the most logical idea, create a sketch to get a general idea of dimensions and shape.

The sketch is of a 50-foot diameter sphere that has five10-foot stories. The bottom story has heavy machinery for waste management, batteries, and life support systems. This also keeps the sphere balanced in the water since most of the weight is in the bottom, which causes the sphere to stay upright. There is another sphere on the outside of it and that is able to rotate around the inner sphere. Motors attached to the inner sphere are able to spin the outer sphere, which has paddles on it to move through the water. The inner sphere won't rotate due to the amount of weight at the bottom.

Next, open fusion and start modeling the sphere.

At this point, there is an inner and outer sphere with an acrylic top so you can see out. Acrylic has superior pressure resistance when under water compared to other clear materials. There are paddles on the outside that also gives the sphere structural support and help with movement

Then start adding detail items like the snorkel which is designed so the outer sphere can still spin but airflow continues to the inner sphere. There are also beams on the bottom to support the house.

The next detail item is the mechanism that allows the outer sphere to smoothly rotate around the inner sphere. The first idea was to use wheels, however, those can only spin in one axis and require strong bearings (which would not be cost effective) to allow it to spin. The next idea was to make the whole sphere a bearing. To accomplish this, there are 2,262 ball bearings that have a diameter of 0.49 feet. To keep the bearings there, there is a spacer that runs around the bottom part of the sphere that has sphere cut outs that are 0.5 feet in diameter. To keep the spacer off the walls there are strips of aluminum that run horizontally between the inner wall and the bearing holder. In between the spacers, there will be aerogel that is filled with helium. The aerogel insulates the inside from the water, and the helium helps it float.

Next the inside house needs to be designed in Revit. Find the radius of each floor which is approximately 20 ft. for the first, 24 ft. for the second, 24 ft. for the third, and 20 ft. for the fourth.

The first floor is comprised of four bedrooms and two bathrooms. There is also a shared media center below the stairs.

The floor has a workshop (top), med bay/quarantine room (left), and two long narrow offices (one next to each stairwell).

The third floor is where the clear acrylic walls start, so there is the master bedroom for the view (top left), movie room (bottom right), kitchen (left), dinning room (bottom), game room (top right), and multiple storage rooms.

This floor is left blank so it can be used for gardening, solar panels, and raising chickens.

Next export the Revit file to a sat file and import it into the fusion file.

Next, use the replace face tool so the wall will meet with the edge of the sphere. You can also use the cut-body tool for smaller bodies that you can't use the replace face tool with.

Next save the section view without the acrylic of the outer shell with paddles, inner shell with bearings, and the house as three separate files. Then use Cura or other slicing software to 3d print the pieces. Use a conversion ration of 1 ft = 2 mm.

3D print each file, remove the supports and clean up any stringing. Then add a piece of tape on the inside sphere base to file it with weights.

Next add weights to the base to keep it stable. A good choice is spare nuts

Then position the three layers inside of each other and that will create the cross section model.

This design is to make a water vehicle that will never flip on its self but go underwater while still staying as a comfortable house. If these become a common habitat of the future it allows owners to survive in the ocean without external support and have an interior designed however they want. Please comment any suggestions or questions and I will be happy to answer. Thank you for spending your time reading this and hope you are inspired.