Archimedes screw hydropower - HydroArc

thingiverse

For making hydropower in the river or creek, consider damming it up with larger rocks and placing a barrier in front when it's not raining to prevent debris from flying into it. This setup should handle normal conditions okay, but might require adjustments for heavy rain. With proper gearing and submersion, you can likely generate 5 volts, possibly more like 12, as the fully submerged design takes advantage of maximum torque. This design allows for scaling down the z-axis to spin faster or fitting into a tube with a wide inlet to funnel in more pressure. However, keep in mind that it's untested and unprinted at this point. One potential alternative is trying to add more generators to the 2754011 thing instead of going with the Hydroarc3 design. This might offer better performance and efficiency. The Hydroarc3 itself is only three inches tall, so it should print relatively quickly. The circular print rings on the bottom are designed for easy removal after printing has finished. Hydroarc4 and Hydroarc5 are test designs at this point, not meant for production or printing. They involve using zipties to attach plastic sheets cut from pop bottles onto the center of the design. A size of 100mm x 150mm should be sufficient for creating a functional water wheel. It looks like the angles in these designs might be off slightly, as they use 75 x 5 instead of the standard 72 degrees. However, they should still spin okay. The estimated print time for Hydroarc4 is one hour, while Hydroarc7 and its larger version are expected to take four and seven hours respectively. This indicates a significant reduction in printing time compared to earlier, more detailed designs. Be sure to smooth out any corners on the design to ensure it's safe for use with fish. As for power output, this design could potentially generate 20-50 watts, but likely more like 150-200 watts when fully optimized.