An Engine that could Change Our Future.
The guiding idea for developing Tesla turbine is the fact that in order to attain the highest economy, the changes in the velocity and direction of movement of fluid should be as gradual as possible. Therefore, the propelling fluid of Tesla turbine moves in natural paths or stream lines of least resistance.
A Tesla turbine consists of a set of smooth disks, with nozzles applying a moving fluid to the edge of the disk. The fluid drags on the disk by means of viscosity and the adhesionof the surface layer of the fluid. As the fluid slows and adds energy to the disks it spirals into the center exhaust. Since the rotor has no projections it is very sturdy.
Tesla wrote, "This turbine is an efficient self-starting prime mover which may be operated as a steam or mixed fluid turbine at will, without changes in construction and is on this account very convenient. Minor departures from the turbine, as may be dictated by the circumstances in each case, will obviously suggest themselves but if it is carried out on these general lines it will be found highly profitable to the owners of the steam plant while permitting the use of their old installation. However, the best economic results in the development of power from steam by the Tesla turbine will be obtained in plants especially adapted for the purpose."
This turbine can also be applied to condensing plants operating with high vacuum. In such a case, owing to the very great expansion ratio, the exhaust mixture will be at a relatively low temperature and suitable for admission to the condenser.
All the plates and washers are fitted on and keyed to a sleeve threaded at the ends and equipped with nuts and collars for drawing the thick end-plates together or the collars may be simply forced onto it and the ends upset. The sleeve has a hole fitting snugly on the shaft, to which it is fastened as usual.
This construction permits free expansion and contraction of each plate individually under the varying influence of heat and centrifugal force and possesses a number of other advantages which are of considerable practical importance. A larger active plate area and consequently more power is obtained for a given width, improving efficiency. Warping is virtually eliminated and smaller side clearances may be used, which results in diminished leakage and friction losses. The rotor is better adapted for dynamic balancing and through rubbing friction resists disturbing influences thereby ensuring quieter running. For this reason and also because the discs are not rigidly joined it is protected against damage which might otherwise be caused by vibration or excessive speed.
The Tesla turbine has the trait of being in an installation normally working with a mixture of steam and products of combustion and in which the exhaust heat is used to provide steam which is supplied to the turbine, providing a valve governing the supply of the steam so that the pressures and temperatures can be adjusted to the optimum working conditions.
As diagrammed, a Tesla turbine installation is:
Able to start with steam alone
A disc type adapted to work with fluids at high temperature.
An efficient Tesla turbine requires close spacing of the disks. For example, a steam-powered type must maintain 0.4 millimeter (.016 inch) inter-disk spacing. The disks must be extremely smooth to minimize surface and shear losses. Disks must also be very thin to prevent drag and turbulence at disk edges. Unfortunately, preventing disks from warping and distorting was a major challenge in Tesla's time. It is thought that this inability to prevent the disks distorting contributed to the commercial failure of the turbines, because metallurgical technology at the time was not able to produce disks of sufficient quality and rigidity.
The device can function as a pump if a similar set of disks and a housing with an involuteshape (versus circular for the turbine) are used. In this configuration a motor is attached to the shaft. The fluid enters near the center, is given energy by the disks, then exits at the periphery. The Tesla turbine does not use friction in the conventional sense; precisely, it avoids it, and uses adhesion (the Coandă effect) and viscosity instead. It uses the boundary layer effect on the disc blades.
Smooth rotor disks were originally proposed but these gave poor starting torque. Tesla subsequently discovered that smooth rotor disks with small washers bridging the disks in ~12–24 places around the perimeter of a 10″ disk and a second ring of 6–12 washers at a sub-diameter made for a significant improvement in starting torque without compromising efficiency.
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The guiding idea for developing Tesla turbine is the fact that in order to attain the highest economy, the changes in the velocity and direction of movement of fluid should be as gradual as possible. Therefore, the propelling fluid of Tesla turbine moves in natural paths or stream lines of least resistance.
A Tesla turbine consists of a set of smooth disks, with nozzles applying a moving fluid to the edge of the disk. The fluid drags on the disk by means of viscosity and the adhesionof the surface layer of the fluid. As the fluid slows and adds energy to the disks it spirals into the center exhaust. Since the rotor has no projections it is very sturdy.
Tesla wrote, "This turbine is an efficient self-starting prime mover which may be operated as a steam or mixed fluid turbine at will, without changes in construction and is on this account very convenient. Minor departures from the turbine, as may be dictated by the circumstances in each case, will obviously suggest themselves but if it is carried out on these general lines it will be found highly profitable to the owners of the steam plant while permitting the use of their old installation. However, the best economic results in the development of power from steam by the Tesla turbine will be obtained in plants especially adapted for the purpose."
This turbine can also be applied to condensing plants operating with high vacuum. In such a case, owing to the very great expansion ratio, the exhaust mixture will be at a relatively low temperature and suitable for admission to the condenser.
All the plates and washers are fitted on and keyed to a sleeve threaded at the ends and equipped with nuts and collars for drawing the thick end-plates together or the collars may be simply forced onto it and the ends upset. The sleeve has a hole fitting snugly on the shaft, to which it is fastened as usual.
This construction permits free expansion and contraction of each plate individually under the varying influence of heat and centrifugal force and possesses a number of other advantages which are of considerable practical importance. A larger active plate area and consequently more power is obtained for a given width, improving efficiency. Warping is virtually eliminated and smaller side clearances may be used, which results in diminished leakage and friction losses. The rotor is better adapted for dynamic balancing and through rubbing friction resists disturbing influences thereby ensuring quieter running. For this reason and also because the discs are not rigidly joined it is protected against damage which might otherwise be caused by vibration or excessive speed.
The Tesla turbine has the trait of being in an installation normally working with a mixture of steam and products of combustion and in which the exhaust heat is used to provide steam which is supplied to the turbine, providing a valve governing the supply of the steam so that the pressures and temperatures can be adjusted to the optimum working conditions.
As diagrammed, a Tesla turbine installation is:
Able to start with steam alone
A disc type adapted to work with fluids at high temperature.
An efficient Tesla turbine requires close spacing of the disks. For example, a steam-powered type must maintain 0.4 millimeter (.016 inch) inter-disk spacing. The disks must be extremely smooth to minimize surface and shear losses. Disks must also be very thin to prevent drag and turbulence at disk edges. Unfortunately, preventing disks from warping and distorting was a major challenge in Tesla's time. It is thought that this inability to prevent the disks distorting contributed to the commercial failure of the turbines, because metallurgical technology at the time was not able to produce disks of sufficient quality and rigidity.
The device can function as a pump if a similar set of disks and a housing with an involuteshape (versus circular for the turbine) are used. In this configuration a motor is attached to the shaft. The fluid enters near the center, is given energy by the disks, then exits at the periphery. The Tesla turbine does not use friction in the conventional sense; precisely, it avoids it, and uses adhesion (the Coandă effect) and viscosity instead. It uses the boundary layer effect on the disc blades.
Smooth rotor disks were originally proposed but these gave poor starting torque. Tesla subsequently discovered that smooth rotor disks with small washers bridging the disks in ~12–24 places around the perimeter of a 10″ disk and a second ring of 6–12 washers at a sub-diameter made for a significant improvement in starting torque without compromising efficiency.
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If you want more information about this article please cooment in comment box.
Please, subscribe our website to support us to put interesting articles.
The Tesla Turbine
Reviewed by A civil Engineer
on
January 07, 2019
Rating:
Reviewed by A civil Engineer
on
January 07, 2019
Rating:
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