The idea for an easy-to-manufacture water turbine came up during the development of WinDIY (a 3D printable wind turbine (more info here: https://hackaday.io/project/184849-windiy2-horizontal-axis-wind-turbine)).

The motives were actually the same.
Develop a turbine that can be easily manufactured with a 3D printer and assembled even by people who are not technically gifted.

As a long-term goal, I would also like to be able to combine this turbine with WinDIY.
For example, you could use the excess energy from WinDIY to pump water to a higher level (model pump storage power plant).
In times without wind, this water can then be used with the 3D printed pelton turbine (I'm still missing a cool name :)) to generate energy from it.

Of course you can't generate outputs in the kW range with it, but a charged mobile phone or LED light at night can also make a big difference. 

As a small side project I am also working on a 3D printable spear valve, which can be used to regulate the water flow.

As you can see in the pictures/videos, the first plan is in place. But there is still a lot to be done. :)

System overview

Goals

The basic idea is that with the help of the printon_turbine the manufacturing, assembly and installation of a renewable energy source powered by hydroelectric power is easy to realize even for beginners.

A large part of the parts should be able to be produced with a standard 3D printer. This means that the components do not have to be laboriously manufactured. They can easily be made on a 20x20x20 cm print bed of a standard 3D printer. As far as possible, the remaining parts should consist of standard mechanical parts that are readily available and, if possible, also reusable.

In the event of any damage to the system, it should be easy to reprint and replace the required parts.

In addition, the system should be as compact as possible and easy to transport. In this way, the system could be manufactured at a central location, assembled and then delivered to the location where it is actually needed. Here I think back to the scenario at the beginnings of the Corona period, when "face shields" were manufactured in many fablabs and then delivered to surrounding hospitals. You could do it in a similar way with the printon turbine: Wherever possible, it is manufactured and then delivered to where it is needed.


Scenarios

For all of the following application scenarios, an important structural or geographical requirement is necessary: A difference in height and sufficient water at the upper level.

The water at the higher level thus has potential energy, which is (with the help of the printon_turbine) first converted into kinetic energy and then (with the help of the generator) into electrical energy .

From my point of view the following possible usecases should be possible:


Power

Of course, high power outputs cannot be achieved with a system of this size. In my opinion, there are two major limiting factors.


Support:

If you want to support me, you can do so by like on this project page, on Instagram or by donating a coffee. :)


Licenses:

Content that is not based on software/code: Unless otherwise stated, all works presented here that are not based on software/code are subject to the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license (attribution – non-commercial – dissemination under the same conditions 4.0 international).

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You can find the complete legal text here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode.de

Software/code-based works Unless otherwise stated, all software/code-based works presented here are subject to the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0

You can find a summary here: https://tldrlegal.com/license/gnu-affero-general-public-license-v3-(agpl-3.0)#summary

The complete legal text can be found here: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.de.html