# Simple Steam Turbine Plans



## vederstein (Feb 12, 2017)

For a project of mine, I need a small engine to run a small fan to blow soap bubbles.  Therefore I whipped up small steam turbine for this purpose.

At the time of this writing, I have no idea of its performance.  I'll find out when I build it.

Please note that the steam inlet is design to work with steam, not compressed air.  The ø1/16 passageway expands to ø1/8".   The idea is for the steam to expand before it impacts the turbine bucket.

If you attempt this machine and plan on running it on compressed air, just drill ø1/16" through.

Also, though not shown in the drawings, I intend the steam inlet to be pressed into the housing and then machine out the pocket so the .564 radius of the steam inlet and the bore of the housing are exactly the same.

Enjoy...

Ved. 







View attachment Assy - Turbine.pdf


View attachment Axle.pdf


View attachment Housing.pdf


View attachment Rotor Cover.pdf


View attachment Rotor.pdf


View attachment Steam Inlet.pdf


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## vederstein (Feb 12, 2017)

Well, I made it today.

I wouldn't recommend building this design.  It works, but none too good.  The rotor likes to lift off on one side pressing against the cover plate and dragging down.

There's better designs out there.  So skip this one.

...Ved.


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## Mechanicboy (Feb 14, 2017)

Maybe the problem is the hole in the cover who is creating vacuum hence the rotor is moving sideways due the rotor works as "a centrifugal fan". Plug the hole on the cover and see what happens.. or the other side (housing) drill new hole to make balance the rotor i both ways.


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## Blogwitch (Feb 14, 2017)

I made a few years back a couple of turbines to my own design using bits of information I had picked up about them.

The first was a single rotor tryout that worked rather well and gave the kids at steam fairs something to look at and talk about as I explained how steam turbines generated most of the country's electricity. Different type of turbines, but who cares.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3ZtJKWo4yo&feature=youtu.be"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3ZtJKWo4yo[/ame]

The second one was an experiment to see if a couple of steam turbines could be fitted into a large model destroyer. This was a 3 rotor version, with fwds/rev.
It again ran very well except for one thing, he wouldn't have enough room in his model to hold a large enough boiler to keep them supplied and he wasn't interested in flash steam where the water was sucked in from the sailing water.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjMkTNoqjDg[/ame]

They really are steam/air gobblers and a small boiler just wouldn't be able to keep up with them.


John


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## Cogsy (Feb 14, 2017)

Those videos are showing as private to me (YouTube setting) and I can't watch them.


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## Blogwitch (Feb 15, 2017)

Sorry about that Al, I think I have now turned them on for public viewing.

Has anyone else noticed that Youtube has become very difficult to use nowadays? I can't even get to show all my vids that I have uploaded over the years, and it even looks like they are trying to extract copyright cash for the bit of music I put at the start of the second video.

Has anyone found a better place to upload vids to?


John


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## modeng2000 (Feb 15, 2017)

Still can't view the videos John.


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## Blogwitch (Feb 15, 2017)

I just can't understand the Youtube site any more, all it seems to be interested in is making money not looking after it's patrons.

I have tried my hardest to get them visible by changing settings, but because I can see them anyway, I can't check them out until someone else tries.

Time for a move, but where to?

John


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## Mechanicboy (Feb 15, 2017)

Her is my steam turbine under test.. 

The model steam turbine with Graupner 65 mm propeller has good thrust, low resistance in water when i am stopping the steam turbine. Also there is propeller still running without use by steam in the turbine 

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1DqyJnfaU8"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1DqyJnfaU8[/ame]


The model steam engine is under testing with big bronze 4 blade propeller under load. I am surprised the steam turbine has good torque enough to drive the big propeller who has resistance in the water. The critical point is viscosity of oil in reduction gear box. It is not good idea to use gearoil or motoroil since high viscosity is robbing the effect of the turbine and difficult to start up the turbine. Better to use thin oil such as bicycle oil or diesel fuel as lubricant for reduction gear as you can see the turbine is easy to start up with low pressure of steam.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXT2rrGPYt8"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXT2rrGPYt8[/ame]


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## Cogsy (Feb 15, 2017)

Blogwitch said:


> I just can't understand the Youtube site any more, all it seems to be interested in is making money not looking after it's patrons.
> 
> I have tried my hardest to get them visible by changing settings, but because I can see them anyway, I can't check them out until someone else tries.
> 
> ...


 
The videos are visible now John, whatever you've done has worked. I agree that YouTube is certainly all about the money now, Google is only interested in money and are changing it for the worse. Unfortunately there just isn't a viable alternative at the moment. There are a few other video hosting sites but without paying a substantial monthly fee the free hosting service is just terrible with low bandwidth streams and low video resolutions. Eventually YouTube will get bad enough that a new competitor will be able to rise up and challenge them but we'll have to wait for that.


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## Blogwitch (Feb 16, 2017)

Thanks Al for the confirmation.
The problems started when Google took over and automatically raised a new account linked to Gmail and everything else under the sun. So I couldn't access my old account with all my vids on it. I have managed to get to them now, but can't add any new vids, only to this crappy new account, which I hope now is set up for showing vids.

Jens,

I see you have hit the steam everywhere barrier usually associated with the open faced turbines, imagine that in an enclosed hull, it is like emptying your boiler directly into the hull, it would be water swamped in no time.
That is why on my second unit (3 rotor) I put a collection chamber on it to send any exhaust overboard.
The vid show it running on air, but it has run on steam, and the collector worked very well indeed, but my 3.5" diameter gas fired boiler just couldn't keep up with it's requirements, I had to keep stopping to allow the pressure to build up again.

John


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## bazmak (Feb 16, 2017)

Hi John,i put on Utube a series of images of steam locomotives
and while playing about added a few pieces of my favorite music
Further down the line they put a stop to my slide show due to 
copyright infringement.The problem was not the images but one of the tunes
was not allowed.Guess where I downloaded it from.You guessed it.The Utube
free download software. Go Figure.# out of 4 of my uploads are ok but one is
forbidden in UK, etc but not in the rest of the world.Look up Gresley pacifics


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## modeng2000 (Feb 16, 2017)

All good now John, thanks.


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## Mechanicboy (Feb 16, 2017)

Blogwitch said:


> Jens,
> 
> I see you have hit the steam everywhere barrier usually associated with the open faced turbines, imagine that in an enclosed hull, it is like emptying your boiler directly into the hull, it would be water swamped in no time.
> That is why on my second unit (3 rotor) I put a collection chamber on it to send any exhaust overboard.
> ...



John, this was a test running the turbine hence i had not completed the steamturbine with the cover + exhaust pipe to lead steam out of the boat. 


John wrote: The vid show it running on air, but it has run on steam, and the collector worked very well indeed, but my 3.5" diameter gas fired boiler just couldn't keep up with it's requirements, I had to keep stopping to allow the pressure to build up again.

---> Replace with a smaller orifice (steam jet) to prevent loss of pressure in the steam boiler and keep steam turbine running. As rule the steam turbine need a big heat of surface in the boiler or use flash boiler. 

My own experience: Do not use too large turbine diameter as it requires higher vapor pressure and greater consumption. With a turbine diameter 30-35 mm will provide higher speed than a large turbine diameter. The turbine should act as flywheels as being high torque. The turbine wheel should have more turbine blades to keep steady power from the steam jet. Use ball bearings to keep the friction low as possible. Oil viscosity is critical in relation to the vapor pressure vs. speed.

I took the test with difference oils in the bearings.

Here are the tests of oils and measured revolutions per minute:
Work pressure= Mobil ESP 5W-30 / Air tool oil /  Diesel oil (fuel for diesel engine as lubricant)

1 bar= 4700 / 13230 / 17600
1.5 bar= 6200 / 17900 / 25700
2 bar= 11400 / 21660 / 31500
2.5 bar= 15500/26340 / 36700
3 bar= 18600 / 28800 / 41800

As i can see the ball bearing get less friction with diesel oil as lucricant, it is sensitive for jet stream from nozzle. With high revolution above 15000, i can feel there are enough torque when trying to stop the turbine shaft.


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## Blogwitch (Feb 17, 2017)

Jens,
Sorry I jumped in too soon in your production of a turbine, I thought it was one of those bought units that are for display only.

With regards to your comments, I can't really go much smaller as the steam jet nozzles only has a 1mm hole through it at it's smallest point. I know the problem, my boiler just isn't big enough for this engine. 

Here it is running on a good head of air, about 40 psi, well before completion, on just one nozzle, so I know the nozzles I made were OK.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyxpHXwJcco[/ame]

I informed the chap who this prototype was being trialed for (he would be getting just a pair of two rotor ones) that he would require a flash steam boiler to run both, but he wouldn't go down that route, so his project was abandoned.

You mentioned the rotor diameter, the rotor in this one is about what you stated.

With regards to your build if I could make a suggestion. Get rid of the pressure as soon as possible after it has done it's job. I made two tangential exhaust holes for each rotor face. One about opposite from the pressure nozzle and a second at about 45 degrees after TDC. This scavenges most of the spent air/steam before it has time to get around the rotor and starts to interfere with what is being fed in. 
You can just see the four holes for the fwds rotor and the two holes for the rev rotor, all are tangential to the rotor itself to 'scrape' the air /steam from it's surface and get rid of it before it goes too far.







John


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## Mechanicboy (Feb 18, 2017)

See at drawings who i has changed some points.. Use steel shaft instead brass shaft to rotor and mount ball bearings in rotorhouse to preventing the rotor is moving sideways. Ball bearings light press in the rotorhouse and shaft snug fit in ball bearing.


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## Bronzewing (May 14, 2017)

Hi
Just a point about Youtube. There is an option to view your channel as others see it. It can help to see how changes you make on settings actually work.


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## WernerJ (Aug 30, 2017)

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum and I've read with interest this thread. I have built several gauge 1 steam turbine locomotives which run quite successfully. My latest project is the Pennsy PRR-S2. At 4 Bar, boiler and turbine produce approximately 10 Watt of shaft power at 35'000 rpm. Naturally, the drive could be adapted to power a boat. But then, propeller rpm and torque requirement (pitch ?) would have to be found out first - and you'll need an efficient reduction gear.

https://youtu.be/RPAJID1CSfM

regards    Werner


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## Cogsy (Aug 30, 2017)

Welcome to the forum Werner - you're loco looks fantastic! Would definitely like to see more.


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## ShopShoe (Aug 31, 2017)

Werner,

That's fantastic. there are not too many turbines posted, but when they are, they're amazing projects.

I would also like to thank you for the extra work of posting text in two languages and for providing specific technical information. Those things make your post much more informative.

I wish you more success with your modeling and good welcome here.

--ShopShoe


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