Hydroelectric System (Turbine, Generator Housing, Enclosure) for NEMA 11 Stepper Motor

thingiverse

My intention was to make a vertical hydroelectric turbine/generator system which could drive a standard stepper motor without the need for additional bearings etc. The hydroelectric system would be placed in an area where there is a reasonable, constant flow of water but where there is not a high head of water pressure. A requirement is that the water enters the turbine in a uniform manner, hitting all the blades at the same time in a more/less equal quantity so as not to unevenly load the shaft and bearings inside the motor (this will need to be taken into consideration when placing this in a real-world situation). I took the prop by dreyfusduke and inserted a cavity within it to take a NEMA 11 stepper motor along with the housing I designed. I also added a skirt at the bottom of the prop to allow water to pass over the motor mounting bracket and allow the electronics to clear the spinning turbine core. Care will need to be taken to ensure the motor electronics and wiring are out of reach of the moving water, though I think they will be fine with the present design. M2.5 bolts to attach stepper motor to housing. M3 bolts to attach housing to enclosure. I'd suggest something like an XL6009 buck/boost converter to bring the voltage up to a level you need for your application. Also, this would be nice with a Nema 17 motor inside it but the problem was that the propeller already has a diameter of 150mm and the enclosure is even larger. This is coming close to the limits of most people's 3D printers. However, a Nema 17 would really make more sense as a generator. So if someone fancies modifying the design to take a Nema 17, that'd be great. Still waiting to print and test... but as I don't have an application for it (ie. I dont have a stream in which to place it) I will probably not be printing it anytime soon. But if you do, please let me know how it goes.