Fully 3D printed Wind turbine - Small scale vawt

prusaprinters

<p>I was hoping to create a vawt generator for a school project.. Altho it works it needs realy high winds... so if anyone has a solution for small vawts to operate in lighter winds - please do speak up..</p> <p>I am kinda proud that I managed to make a working thing but also disapointed of its performance.</p> <p>Aniway....</p> <p>My goal was to do a fully 3D printed vawt. (I really tryed to do everything printed)</p> <p>I did some research and picked effective aerofoil with structual benefits. I also designed roller bearing(it was harder than I though) which works great (better than anything I found on thingy) but a also included modified gear bearing from emmett (<a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:53451">https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:53451</a>) which could potentialy be better(but havent tested)..</p> <p>UPDATE: Tried the gear bearing: It has a little bit less leeway but more drag..</p> <p>The base of the model is designed to attach onto something to fix it and it is also designed to add a base with generator in it (which I haven't done - since it isn't efficient enough for now) Maybe instead of generator I will put a motor with high gearing reduction and use it as an art piece indoor..</p> <p>You need to print 3x blades, 3x arms,2x bearings..other stuff 1x... I used around 600g of material for complete set. Or you can just print 2 savinous parts(without blades and arms) and stack them the beam..</p> <p>UPDATE 27/3/2022: I was working on leading edge addons and they didn't work as desired since they disturbed the whole profile more then expected therefore they weren't very effective.. I did some additional research and found out that most professional vawts have a starting mechanism, because their efficiency comes only from airfoil profile which has to generate alot of torque from a standing start(printed bearings also don't help with that).. For this I then decided to do a spiral addon(make sure to turn it the right way), making this a hybrid vawt.. For now I haven't tested this and didn't analised it very well(it was a quick mash up)..</p> <p>Update 5/4/2022</p> <p>I have drilled a hole in the center beam, attached a 8mm rod inside and did some test with proper bearings (608). When turbine is hand started it generates some very good rpms in the constant wind(without the savinous add-on). I will design a main stable and attachment for some regular bearings(will post it when I do). I also did some testing on printed bearings(the roller ones) and they performed much better than expected (will post some videos that will show that)</p> <p>Conclusion for now: Horizontal turbines are much more effective and simple. Vertical become more effective at bigger sizes but I would be affraid to make a full scale try.</p> <h3>Print Settings</h3> <p><strong>Printer Brand:</strong></p> <p>Creality</p> <p class="detail-setting printer"><strong>Printer: </strong> <div><p>Ender 5</p></div> <p><strong>Rafts:</strong></p> <p>Doesn't Matter</p> <p class="detail-setting supports"><strong>Supports: </strong> <div><p>Doesn't Matter</p></div> <p><strong>Resolution:</strong></p> <p>0,2</p> <p><strong>Filament:</strong></p> azurefilm PETG <p><br/> <p class="detail-setting notes"><strong>Notes: </strong></p> </p><div><p>Everyhing is printed with PETG. Blades you print verticaly with support and brim.. For bearing it is important not to have elephants foot and I like to print with random z-seaming. </p></div> Post-Printing ============= <div><p>It goes together quite easily and it I glued it together with a hotgun.. Assembly is pretty much self explainatory. For rly good spining I used some grease spray on the bearing</p></div> </p></p> Category: DIY