Project Naiad: D.I.Y Water Turbine

Project Naiad is a little home project plus school assignment made to learn about electricity, currents, basically the design of electric energy! Mine has gone through a ton of trial and error, but eventually it's final design has finalized onto the concept of a water turbine with Fatherly assistance, and this way is capable of home energy production. Now guys can too!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1odvqfQEzBkEaev59rp3xI9VNW7yi3Xoc/view?usp=drive_link video of it

REQUIRED.

Some of these come from the ELEGOO Electronics Fun Kit

• Alligator Wire Clips
• Wires
• Hand-crank Generator
• Silicone
• A circular plastic object
• Super glue
• Solid Cardboard Tube/SCT
• 6 Bamboo Skewers(or something similar)
• Miniature Wooden Planks(something that can fit on small cardboard flaps)
• Love :3

OPTIONAL

• Paint c:
• SCT = Saran Wrap Tube
• Saran Wrap

During the step explanation, you'll know the meaning behind and reasoning around every object used!

If you want a working turbine, you need a working inner generator as well. The Hand-Crank generator uses kinetic energy from spinning the Hand-Crank, and is administered through the prongs near the bottom.

Connect alligator clips to the metal prongs at the bottom half of the generator. This allows a pathway for the electricity being made from the generator to pass through. Connect the other ends of the alligator clips to wires, allowing the generator to connect to other objects. What that is, is up to you.

With the hand-crank made, this section here is for the curious people who want to know more! So welcome to the Core Explanation, otherwise known as the Output. An actual word that is indeed used. Also here's a circuit diagram of it(I tried :>)

The Output is a term used to summarize what is, in total, wires! A better term, being electrical circuit. These circuits come in plenty of different ways that can do plenty of different things, but the main things to know are these 3 which i've considered the more simple designs.

The different types of electrical circuits. MTAEE. (2023, August 11). https://mtaee.com/types-of-electrical-circuits/

Open Circuit: An open circuit is when, like the name suggest, the circuit is open. This is what is also known as a break within the current path, and in simpler terms, could be symbolized as a light switch turned off. It could also be problems with the circuit itself

Closed Circuit: The closed circuit is basically the opposite. The circuit gets closed, and lets the electricity move through the path. Like the evil scientist pulling the lever to their omega Death-Ray machine.

DC Circuit: A DC Circuit, is also known as a Direct Current Circuit. Just like the name, a DC Circuit is one where the path is constant and untouched, which enables energy to flow through consistently. However, this also means it has to stay consistent. Otherwise it doesn't work.

Now that you guys understand the way the energy passes through, you've gotta know how to turn this thing into a proper water generator.

Our first focus is the circular object.

Depending on the object you have will determine what you have to do. Mine was a piece to an old device my other owned, and yours could end up being something completely flat. And thus, the first thing you need to do is redesign the Hand-Crank

Sometimes the object impedes with the Hand-Crank's design. Mine extends out to it so it's fine. But sometimes you'll have to remove the handle so it may lay balanced in the middle of the crank's..Crank thing. A recommended method is to use a piece of cardboard to make sure it can glue onto a flat surface instead of into the gaps of plastic. Once that is done, you may superglue this circular object to the crank, and get it nice and stable.

Now with the wires and the hinge set up right, lets get to the turbine!

The turbine is created through 2 main aspects, the main rod and the paddles.

And this, is the rod.

It may be a bit weird seeing the SCT = Saran Wrap Tube, but we decided to make the rod the cardboard tube from the saran wrap. You don't have to do this, but it's incredibly solid and works nicely. Now, make sure once you have these wooden sticks, you make sure they cross each other and overlap perfectly. These will serve as support for the paddles. 3 different sets will be made, 2 in each. Make sure the wooden sticks cover each other perfectly, positioned like a wall, so when the paddle flaps are placed atop these little sticks they will act like hands to hold them up properly.

The Attachment!! Perfect in use. This is where the silicone comes into play.

Make sure the silicone is first off, spread across the circular object in a flat way so that they can dry out properly, and attach the rod to this circular object so it connects to the generator properly. If extra support is needed, add mini little walling across the rod, as we have done this due to the unique shape of our circular object.

The turbine is created through 2 main aspects, the main rod and the paddles.

Here we have the paddles its a simple process when creating them, create 4 planks of cardboard that equally line up with the skewers! A nice addition is to add Wooden planks to make it a larger base for the rod to grab on to during attachment. Speaking of! When attaching the cardboard to the skewers, make.sure you super glue it with multiple different sections and that it holds on TIGHT. This way it would slip off during its creation.

Now that you've made a turbine as well, we might as well explain this too! This is the Turbine Explanation, otherwise known as the Input. An actual term known within electric phrases.

The Input is where the energy comes from, and in turn that would be the turbine that lets the water do generation!

How to generate electricity - promote Green Living. Anker. (n.d.). https://www.anker.com/blogs/solar-panel/how-to-generate-electricity-reasons-ways-to-do-it-at-home

The energy from the water is taken in from the generator, and sent through the Output(wires). I have a video that demonstrates this with the normal Hand-Crank generator as the input.

Here's what we have! After painting as well :>

If you want it to be more water proof you can go ahead and add Saran wrap to the paddles

Howdya do! In case you've wanted to come here to find out any problems i've come across, you could just step over here! Let's see if I can help you out with anything that might happen :>

Not working wires?

• No problem! I ended up trying to test out the generator on a few things, and it wouldn't turn on at all. After a bit of researching the main problem was just they were attached the wrong way. Swap their places and it'll be working just fine! Electricity is very picky.

Silicone Probs

• Sometimes it's best to fill the spot with Super Glue! Very sticky, very useful

Glue..

• Keep it up with your Glue! You may need a lot of it!

If you guys have any other problems, or if I can think of some more to answer, you may find it here sometime!!

Wanted to find out how it all works?

WELLL, lucky for you, I have it all listed out here.

Some may be wondering as to why we'd use this to begin with? Well, if given the chance, it's main usage is the fact is it takes benefit from the fact the energy is completely renewable! In other words, it's practically Limitless. How is it? Well, it takes from the motion of water. Place it in a flowing bit of water and it rotates, making energy for you to use! It takes advantage from machines of the past. In other words, Simple Machines.

It's main recognizable trait being the Wheel and Axle. It works in a pretty simple way, as the name suggests. The wheel spins, and the energy/force of its movement rotates the axle to do whatever is needed. This takes advantage of that design, by making the axle the one that produces energy from within the generator via Kinetic Energy! On an atomic level, it's all happening through atoms. To be more specific, Protons and Electrons. Protons are positively charged, while electrons are negatively charged. They're used properly through a subject known as a Conductor. These materials are known for being able to easily and properly transfer electric charge, which is the difference between Protons and Electrons. I know, pretty nerdy so far, but don't worry. You're learning good stuff and if you don't like it, it'll end soon. Next up, is the use of Currents. But first, we must talk about Electromagnetic Induction, in which Currents(told ya) are created through conductors from the power of Magnetic Fields. This could eventually lead to a Magnetic Flux, which is the process of when an object is effected by said Magnetic Field. Currents can only remain when the Magnetic Field is consistently changing, otherwise the flux remains the same and thus nothing is received. Without it, then nothing ends up being given. Why do we need this? It's how we get the power, keep up. But how. Why does it do what it does?

Simple, Voltage. Voltage is the passage of electricity via difference. It's only capable of doing so because the Curret/Electricity has to fill in the difference. Think of water. If there is an empty space, then the Current has to fill in that space. And the opposite is true as well. If they are both the same, they repel each other, keeping if all the same. Which is why, water on one side doesn't. Fill up the other side with the same amount of water. Sometimes the Current can also be stopped by a switch, which basically is just a gap capable of cutting off the current from passing. Simple simple. Which all in all, brings us to Ohm's Law. A formula to find out Voltage, Resistance, or Current. An easy to remember symbol being Ohm's Triangle which will be in image form below. Use it whenever you need to find out something a specific number in electric factors!

Extra facts: The main reason why we'd end up burning fuel, or have a generator move is because it's the only way we can have energy to use. Why? The law of Energy, or the Conservation of Energy. It's the fact that energy cannot be made, or destroyed. Only changed, and so we must use the force of Kinetic energy from moving water to become electrical energy. Or whatever else it's connected to.

Wanted to take a peak behind the scene? Well take a step right here. This is where the magic was formed, in Jetstream Journal.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11kQPAOy6GME36tZFFyqmftDm10cSAqxcgQJECykppo8/edit?usp=sharing