An Open Source, Low Cost, 3D Printed Thruster For Autonomous Underwater and Surface Vehicles

Abstract

Thrusters are a vital part of any autonomous under-water or surface vehicle. However, due to their high costs, they are often out of reach of researchers and students in developing countries. While many designs are available using off-the-shelf drone motors, they are either not open source or do not provide performance details. This paper presents an open-source, 3D printed, low-cost, compact thruster designed using open-source software tools. We present our design and testing approach and the performance data gathered from experiments that are useful for modeling the thruster. The approach presented here can be applied to any off-the-shelf brushless motor to design a thruster if the one used in this paper is unavailable or does not meet specific performance criteria.