New Air/Steam Turbine

[s4w2099]

This is just a toy that I am building with my little brother. This turbine runs on air or steam, so far only tested with compressed air. I am just waiting for a set of bearings to come in to put the whole thing together.

I plan to stick a 4 pole alternator to it with very low turn count because this thing spins up very fast. It is not confirmed by optical tachometer yet but from some math calculations it comes up to roughly 7000 RPM.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=p5-O4ZFC284 <--- video showing one of the first spool ups.<p>



Just a nice toy.

:-)

[WXYZCIENCE]

S4w2099,How much air pressure are you running the turbine at? Here are some links to stuff I have worked on. I know the excitement you have in testing your work. Wear safety glasses, maybe gloves too.

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2008/1/13/214327/136

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2008/2/1/54924/18986


Joseph.

[s4w2099]

Yes, I have the safety glasses on while testing this. I am just using 125PSI max with a 10gal tank that I got from the auto parts store, very small I know but its good to test. I takes about 3 minutes to go from 125 to 20PSI with a 1mm nozzle.

I am looking to build an alternator just like yours but I am afraid of balance problems and shaft fatigue.

[bob g]

judging from the tone of that test, and experience with small air motor

my bet is you are exceeding 20k rpm.

quite possibly much higher rpm.

you may have to gear down to get it into a useful and safe range for an alternator.

then maybe a small automotive alternator would be a good fit, some of which can stand up to 8+ grand and live to tell about it.

interesting project

bob g

[s4w2099]

20k RPM? I guess My math is failing bad then :-)

I could try that, and maybe mod it a little bit because I dont like the idea of wasting part of the power to generate the field. I think that this little guy has the torque to start one effortlessly.

Car alternators are cheap and easy to mod. Ill hit a junkyard this week to see if I can find a cheap one. Hopefully Ill have something done by the end of this week.