Using Thrusters as wave makers in aquariums

[Shooter6]

Look at this picture, the exhaust cone. Flip that cone 180 degrees around, and shorten the outer funnel collar. The flow would be forced outward in an ever expanding cone much like a garden hose with the spray nozzle turned to spray instead of stream. I assume this would be easy to 3d print as part of the fish guard ?

 

[Dburr1014]

An explanation, if you ever seen a jet engine, there's a cone in front that dissipates airflow to the outer edge of the intake. This helps increase the pressure on the turbine blades.

LOL, this made me chuckle.
I work in a jet engine manufacturing plant.

The cone is more for aerodynamics.

I would think heating evenly, like in an oven, they would melt/bend evenly. Eh, for $26 bucks, I would risk trying one.

Edit: I thought you meant the front cone. :)

 

[ravi197699]

I believe they are 0-10v , most of the drone stuff is. I know there's an electronics part that they sell, that's required. My understanding is that part goes between the controller and the thruster, possibly a regulator? But I'm not advanced in electronics.

As far as the blades being bent out, I'd be afraid of throwing them off balance, and due to the thin design I think a better way to dissipate the flow would be to mount a small cone shape in front of it.

An explanation, if you ever seen a jet engine, there's a cone in front that dissipates airflow to the outer edge of the intake. This helps increase the pressure on the turbine blades.

Now if the cone was put on the output side and flipped so the point faces the flow, the water would Naturally be spread out in a ever widening cone.

these are not 0-10v rather PWM signal, part that goes between the control / power supply and thruster is ESC - Electronic Signal Control, without that thruster won't work,

 

[Shooter6]

these are not 0-10v rather PWM signal, part that goes between the control / power supply and thruster is ESC - Electronic Signal Control, without that thruster won't work,

Thank you for clarifying for everyone, I knew the part was mandatory for them to work, just not the name . If I understood the manufacturer they can still be controlled with the Arduino but require that pwm part. Does that make sense?

I know the pwm wasn't very expensive, when I spoke to them via email.

 

[Shooter6]

LOL, this made me chuckle.
I work in a jet engine manufacturing plant.

The cone is more for aerodynamics.

I would think heating evenly, like in an oven, they would melt/bend evenly. Eh, for $26 bucks, I would risk trying one.

Edit: I thought you meant the front cone. :)

I'm not a jet engine guy, just jumped out a few in the Air Force. I've seen the engines though, including our pavelows and pave hawks so that's where I got the idea to use them as an example.

 

[Reef-Engineer]

I am interested in that thruster but didnt want to take the $ plunge to test another quite yet. That one is the most likely candidate when i try again.

I would contact them to get audio recordibgs of running units first and with measured SPL if possible to compare to the hum of my MP60s.

Those units would be controlled in the same way that Ravi and I control our T200/T500 units.

 

[ravi197699]

Thank you for clarifying for everyone, I knew the part was mandatory for them to work, just not the name . If I understood the manufacturer they can still be controlled with the Arduino but require that pwm part. Does that make sense?

I know the pwm wasn't very expensive, when I spoke to them via email.

if you buy esc it will come with connector that is for pwm signal, one is ground and second wire is signal, this will control the speed of the thruster and this goes in betweek power supply and thuster, 3 wires connect to thruster and red and black wire to to power supply,

 

[ravi197699]

I am interested in that thruster but didnt want to take the $ plunge to test another quite yet. That one is the most likely candidate when i try again.

I would contact them to get audio recordibgs of running units first and with measured SPL if possible to compare to the hum of my MP60s.

Those units would be controlled in the same way that Ravi and I control our T200/T500 units.

my thrusters specially t500 makes noise but it does not bother me since my tank is sitting in separate room but I do understand your concern with noise, these were designed to be for kayak or ROV's where noise is not an issue, but I do want to try the disc drive but cost is high just to try, I have few Mp60 that were serviced by Ecotech, I will sell those and buy 1 disc drive, design looks good to me but I am not sure of the long term life,

 

[Shooter6]

if you buy esc it will come with connector that is for pwm signal, one is ground and second wire is signal, this will control the speed of the thruster and this goes in betweek power supply and thuster, 3 wires connect to thruster and red and black wire to to power supply,

Does this mean they can or cannot be controlled by Arduino or a hydros for wave or ramping cycles.

 

[Reef-Engineer]

This means they can. The 0-10v on the esc controlls the motor speed by varying the pulse width of the higher voltage to the motor.

 

[Shooter6]

This means they can. The 0-10v on the esc controlls the motor speed by varying the pulse width of the higher voltage to the motor.

Thank you for clarifying this and sharing your knowledge!

 

[sawdonkey]

I’ve given up on this project. I had the thruster running for 3-4 months. I can move a ton of water, but it acted goofy. Just shut off from time to time needing to be restarted. The biggest issue is that the wires coming out of the ESC turned black and were always hot. They singed the side of the electronics box. I’m not gonna burn my house down. I also didn’t love having so much flow coming from one place. It kinda pushed everything to one corner of my tank.

 

[Shooter6]

Saw these the other day and thought they may be applicable to this thread. The second or third model demonstrated appears to have a thruster mounted to it?

 

[ravi197699]

Thank you for sharing, Oscillating device is available, not sure how to control the speed of the device or may arduino uno can be used to control the speed of the device

 

[ravi197699]

found something similar -

 

[ravi197699]

I put together a kit that will help me with turning the thruster left to right continuously as long as the power is on and I will be able to control the speed of the rotation as well, it is very simple set up with control board but I need to figure is out how to attach the thruster to the motor, which comes with coupling, any ideas you guys have in mind? motor shaft is 6mm / 1/4"

 

[ravi197699]

just an update on my thrusters, out of the 4 thrusters, one thruster was getting jammed, I took both t200 thrusters out to inspect and found 1 of the thruster core got damaged due to piece or rock got in between the magnetic code and rotor, bought 2 new rotors from BlueRobotics for 60$ each and replaced the one got damaged and back in action again, this is the first time I had to replace the rotor and 1 impeller since I am using the thrusters, just wanted to give an update,

 

[ravi197699]

Here is the device I put together to move the thrusters or any wave maker left to right, simple design and control,

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Can you upload that to YouTube and share the link?

 

[ravi197699]

here you go sir, this one is much simpler design and does not require arduino code and motor is much stronger, mounting options can be altered based on tank set up, I will mount mine with light canopy wood by using aluminum angle probably 1.5 inch angle that will come down 3 inch above water and then 1/2" pvc will go in the tank water with wave maker mounted on flat pvc sheet with magnets