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one person water rocket powered cart

Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 3:47 pm
by diycool
Hi there,
Just wanted to share a small movie about a water rocket driven cart I made for my son.
Not very spectacular ( it performs exactly as calculated, but the end speed is limited of course).
It would be nice to learn some tips on how I could improve performance.
I don’t want to increase pressure too much for obvious safety reasons.
If the weather gets better I will redo the movie, with some better angles/close-ups.


Re: one person water rocket powered cart

Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 1:16 pm
by WasderRockets
Maybe you should try to use a bigger nozzle so you have a better acceleration. That will be a bit of work because you obviously can't use a hose/tubing that is smaller than the nozzle. With a bigger nozzle you "burn" your "fuel" faster so maybe you should take more water with you and maybe increase the air volume.

Re: one person water rocket powered cart

Posted: Tue May 23, 2017 8:44 pm
by anachronist
Way cool. It actually performs better than I expected before I watched the video. :)

If you used the pressurized water to drive a turbine that turned the wheels, it might be more efficient than using the water as thrust reaction mass.

Re: one person water rocket powered cart

Posted: Wed May 24, 2017 3:58 pm
by diycool
That is correct, driving a turbine would be much more efficient, but not as spectacular ....
There is indeed a lot of energy stored in the vessel, that is why I put a safety cage around it.

Re: one person water rocket powered cart

Posted: Wed May 31, 2017 12:01 pm
by anachronist
diycool wrote:That is correct, driving a turbine would be much more efficient, but not as spectacular
Well, I was thinking the water could drive a turbine and provide thrust, in a similar fashion as the exhaust in a turbofan jet engine drives the fan as well as providing thrust. After all, the turbine isn't going to extract all the energy from the water.

Re: one person water rocket powered cart

Posted: Fri Jun 02, 2017 4:12 pm
by diycool
Ok, now I got it. That is a good idea : same effect but we could reach a higher speed.
Thanx!

Re: one person water rocket powered cart

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 8:26 am
by thampson
HI, Im a little late to this but save as much weight as you can. Also maybe replace those wheels with 26" bike wheels, much lighter and less rolling resistance. :)

Nice project !!