Blog #2 (Ben) -- Prototyping and Final Designs -- May 15th, 2023

 Our first few days consisted of compiling designs from the internet with our own designs to make a cohesive product. The impeller was taken from a previously made design and Nikhil modeled the inlet flange and the diffuser around that impeller. We made design choices such as where to add bearings and how we will connect them all together after printing an initial prototype, as seen in the pictures. 



Left: impeller, Top: diffuser, Bottom: inlet 


    The system seemed to work surprisingly well as we were able to feel a draft by spinning it ourselves. The next round of printing should give us our final inlet, impeller, and flange; however, we will make changes as necessary. 
    We ran into one large issue: Case's Think[box] is closed during May. This means that many of our parts will have to be 3D printed and we will most likely use an acrylic tube for the housing. The benefit of using an acrylic tube is that the housing will be transparent and we will be able to see the inner workings. We have emailed our advisor from Case, Mr. Charnas, to see if we can use the Think[box]. All of our main components like the inlet, impeller, and diffuser can be made out of plastic so it is not critical to make anything out of metal; however, if the plastic model functions, then we may try to make some parts out of metal. Some possibilities are using a lathe to make the inlet out of aluminum, welding a metal casing with an acrylic window, or machining the diffuser out of metal. However, currently, we are focusing on making a functioning compressor with the tools we have available. 
    The final design aspects that we are setting in place are the positioning of the bearings, axle caps, thrust bearings, and any nuts to keep the parts in place. For the diffuser bearing, we are attempting to inlay the bearing in the print, which means we have to print half of the diffuser, place the bearing in the dedicated spot, and then print the rest of the diffuser on top of it. This may take a few tries as we will have to perfectly place the bearing so it fits the shaft and does not shift too much. Overall, I am excited about the progress we have made and hope we can successfully construct the compressor and start testing so we can move on to the turbine and/or combustor. 

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