Monday, June 27, 2022

Water Computer

 Using a 3D printer I have built a water-powered computer. Here is a video:


Here is a diagram of the main component: 


The "inverted output" on the left will be ON when the input is OFF, and OFF when the input is ON. The "amplified output" on the right will be the same state as the input, but will have increased water flow. By redirecting the outputs with tubes, this single component is powerful enough to build any logic circuit or computer. This type of computation is known as fluidics.

Here is the binary half-adder circuit that I built (using five of the above components):


Here are the models for the different parts that I 3D printed:

  • transistor - the main logic component
  • nozzle - used for releasing water from the milk carton
  • connector - used to connect funnels to tubes
  • hook - used to provide extra magnet support
  • funnel - funnel with a single output
  • splitter funnel - funnel with two outputs - this can be used to split one larger stream into two smaller streams