The Tesla Turbine and Pump
Abstract from US patent # 1,329,559, issued to Nikola Tesla in 1916.
The Internal Combustion version of
Tesla's Turbine
Tesla's Valvular Conduit Patent: Fig. 4 (left) exemplifies a
particularly valuable application of the invention to which reference has been
made above. The drawing shows in vertical cross section a turbine which may be
of any type but is in this instance one invented and described by me and
supposed to be familiar to engineers.
Suffice
it to state that the rotor 21 of the same is composed of flat plates
which are set in motion through the adhesive and viscous action of the working
fluid, entering the system tangentially at the periphery and leaving it at the
center.
Such
a machine is a thermodynamic transformer of an activity surpassing by far that
of any other prime mover, it being demonstrated in practice that each single
disk of the rotor is capable of performing as much work as a whole
bucket-wheel. Besides, a number of other advantages, equally important, make
it especially adapted for operation as an internal combustion motor .
This
may be done in many ways, but the simplest and most direct plan of which I am
aware is the one illustrated here. Referring again to the drawing, the upper
part of the turbine casing 22 has bolted to it a separate casting 23,
the central cavity 24 of which forms the combustion chamber. To prevent
injury through excessive heating a jacket 25 may be used, or else water
injected, and when these means are objectionable recourse may be had to air
cooling, this all the more readily as very high temperatures are practicable.
The top of casting 23 is closed by a plate 26 with a sparking or
hot wire plug 27 and in its sides are screwed two valvular conduits
communicating with the central chamber 24. One of these is, normally,
open to the atmosphere while the other connects to a source of fuel supply as a
gas main 28. The bottom of the combustion chamber terminates in a
suitable nozzle 29 which consists of separate piece of heat resisting
material.
To
regulate the influx of the explosion constituents and secure the proper mixture
of air and gas conduits are equipped, respectively, with valves 30 and 31.
The exhaust openings 32 of the rotor should be in communication with a
ventilator, preferably carried on the same shaft and of any suitable
construction. Its use, however, while advantageous, is not indispensable the
suction produced by the turbine rotor itself being, in some cases, at least,
sufficient to insure proper working. This detail is omitted from the drawing as
unessential to the understanding. But a few words will be needed to make clear
the mode of operation. The air valve 30 being open and sparking
established across terminals 27, the gas is turned on slowly until the
mixture in the chamber 24 reaches the critical state and is ignited.
Both the conduits behaving, with respect to influx, as closed valves, the
products of combustion rush out through the nozzle 29 acquiring still greater
velocity by expansion and, imparting their momentum to the rotor 21,
start it from rest.
.
Upon the subsidence of the
explosion the pressure in the chamber sinks below the atmosphere owing to the
pumping action of the rotor or ventilator and new air and gas is permitted to
enter, cleaning the cavity and channels and making up a fresh mixture which is
detonated as before, and so on, the successive impulses of the working fluid
producing an almost continuous rotary effort. After a short lapse of time the
chamber becomes heated to such a degree that the ignition device may be shut
off without disturbing the established regime. This manner of starting the
turbine involves the employment of an unduly large combustion chamber which is
not commendable from the economic point of view, for not only does it entail
increased heat losses but the explosions cannot be made to follow one another
with such rapidity as would be desirable to insure the best valvular action.
When the chamber is small an auxiliary means for starting, as compressed air,
may be resorted to and a very quick succession of explosions can then be
obtained.
.
The frequency will be the greater
the stronger the suction, and may, under certain conditions, reach hundreds and
even thousands per second. It scarcely need be stated that instead of one,
several explosion chambers may be used for cooling purposes and also to
increase the number of active pulses and the output of the machine.
Apparatus
as illustrated in Fig. 4 presents the advantages of extreme simplicity,
cheapness and reliability, there being no compressor, buckets or troublesome
valve mechanism.
It
also permits, with the addition of certain well known accessories, the use of
any kind of fuel and thus meets the pressing necessity of a self- contained,
powerful, light and compact internal combustion motor for general work. When
the attainment of the highest efficiency is the chief object, as in machines of
large size, the explosive constituents will be supplied under high pressure and
provision made for maintaining a vacuum at the exhaust. Such arrangements are
quite familiar and lend themselves so easily to this improvement that an enlargement
on this subject is deemed unnecessary...
The high efficiency of the device,
irrespective of the character of the pulses, is due to two causes: first, rapid
reversal of direction of flow and, second, great relative velocity of the
colliding fluid columns. As will be readily seen each bucket causes a deviation
through an angle of 180 degrees, and another change of 180 degrees occurs in
each of the spaces between two adjacent buckets.
That
is to say, from the time the fluid enters or leaves one of the recesses to its
passage into, or exit from, the one following a complete cycle, or deflection
through 360 degrees, is effected. Observe now that the velocity is but slightly
reduced in the reversal so that the incoming and deflected fluid columns meet with
a relative speed, twice that of the flow, and the energy of their impact is
four times greater than with a deflection of only 90 degrees, as might be
obtained with pockets such as have been employed in asymmetrical conduits for
various purposes. The fact is, however, that in these such deflection is not
secured. The pockets remaining filled with comparatively quiescent fluid and
the latter following a winding path of least resistance between the obstacles
interposed. In such conduits the action cannot be characterized as
"valvular" because some of the fluid can pass almost unimpeded in a
direction opposite to the normal flow. In my construction, as above indicated,
the resistance in the reverse may be 200 times that in the normal direction. Owing
to this a comparatively very small number of buckets or elements is required
for checking the fluid. Complete Patent information - Tesla's Valvular Conduit Patent -
A New Advance in Tesla Turbine
Theory
Observant
students of the Tesla Turbine design might have
wondered why some of Tesla's engines do not appear to use a labyrinth seal
between the end disks and the corresponding engine casing end plates. After
all, the patent drawings clearly show these seals and the accompanying text
describes them at length. At the same time, photographs of the dual 200 H.P.
turbine installed at the Edison Waterside plant in New York reveal an absence
of this feature.
It
is believed the answer lies in the design of the engine's inlet nozzle. (click
on image - left - for larger view) It has been proposed that the slot shaped
nozzle might have been constructed in such a manner that the propelling gas was
never allowed to enter directly into the two interdiscular spaces nearest to the
ends of the rotor.
In
other words, it is believed the nozzle slot was narrower than the overall width
of the rotor, by slightly more than two spaces. It might be said that the total
number of disks was greater by two than the number of active disks. For
example, a turbine with 25 disks, including the thicker end disks, might be
described as having 23 active disks. This would allow any of the propelling gas
which did get past the outermost active disks to pass through the two outermost
interdiscular spaces rather than between the end disks and the engine's end
plates, specifically...
Compliments: Gary Peterson (Twenty First Century
Books).
Tesla's
two variations of inlet nozzles
In FIG #4, Tesla used a variable
inlet nozzle #12, and controlled the amount of gas entering by a movable
"block" - #13.
Note
that also, in FIG #4, the inlet and exhaust port size was increased, to allow
for more power, on demand.
Tesla, in FIG #5 used a diverging
inlet nozzle - #15, controlled by a "butterfly" valve, #16 .
This
design was to be incorporated into Tesla's ''flying machine'', with two 10''
turbines, rated at 400 HP
REF:
Tesla Patent # 1,655,114 of 1928.
A
word about inlet nozzles and the Anharmonic Resonator:
Looking
at the diagram of the anharmonic resonator (which would include the
types of nozzles Tesla was using); Sonic gas speed will occur at the smallest
area cross section between a high pressure reservoir and the turbine discs.
Supersonic gas flow speeds will only occur immediately downstream of a region
of sonic speed (smallest cross section) and only if the cross section gradually
increases. This has been proven in laboratories hundreds of times. If all gas
flow properties are being regulated at the inlet nozzle immediately upstream of
the turbine discs, that will be the region where sonic gas speed will occur.
All cross sections upstream of the nozzle and up to the exit of the
high-pressure reservoir would have a greater cross-section area. The
best location to regulate gas pressure and the mass flow rate of the gas would
be at the inlet nozzle, not the reservoir outlet.
The anharmonic
resonator (click image thumbnail, left to enlarge) will be used downstream
of a regulator valve that would also be the exit of the high pressure gas
reservoir. Sonic gas speed will occur in that regulator valve (it will regulate
the mass flow rate of the gas and also its pressure) and the gas flow
downstream of the regulator valve would go supersonic if cross section area
gradually increases. Under these conditions, a device like the aharmonic
resonator could break up the supersonic shock waves ahead of a Tesla turbine
intake. To slow supersonic gas, the cross section area needs to be reduced. The
anharmonic resonator is essentially a modification of the Oswatitsch intake
that is used at the entrance to the engines of supersonic aircraft. The
Macrosonix-type intake would break up the sound waves so as to reduce the
pressure loss as the air slows from supersonic speed to subsonic speed.
This device will only have use if the gas flowing toward the intake nozzle of a Tesla turbine is already traveling at supersonic speed. If the gas speed is subsonic and with no hope of it ever going supersonic, then the device would either do nothing or it will cause problems if it is not designed properly. If you want to run a Tesla turbine when the air at the intake to the nozzle is supersonic, an Oswatitsch intake may involve lower energy losses that this resonator. Both devices would work best in an aircraft traveling at supersonic speed and a Tesla turbine was being used on board to drive electrical generation equipment or hydraulic equipment.
Mass flow rate of gas into a Tesla turbine can be regulated by using a rectangular cross-section of inlet nozzle. It is very easy to achieve adjustable and variable cross-section area from a rectangular nozzle. An alternative would be to use multiple nozzles of varying cross-section areas. Operate some nozzles and keep others shut off so as to achieve the desired mass flow rate of gas into the Tesla Discs. 4-nozzles in a 1:2:4:8 cross section ratio will give a 1:2:4:8 mass flow rate ratio into the Tesla discs, which in turn would yield 15-mass flow settings and also 15-power settings in equal steps.
The anharmonic
resonator (click image thumbnail, left to enlarge) will be used downstream
of a regulator valve that would also be the exit of the high pressure gas
reservoir. Sonic gas speed will occur in that regulator valve (it will regulate
the mass flow rate of the gas and also its pressure) and the gas flow
downstream of the regulator valve would go supersonic if cross section area
gradually increases. Under these conditions, a device like the aharmonic
resonator could break up the supersonic shock waves ahead of a Tesla turbine
intake. To slow supersonic gas, the cross section area needs to be reduced. The
anharmonic resonator is essentially a modification of the Oswatitsch intake
that is used at the entrance to the engines of supersonic aircraft. The
Macrosonix-type intake would break up the sound waves so as to reduce the
pressure loss as the air slows from supersonic speed to subsonic speed.This device will only have use if the gas flowing toward the intake nozzle of a Tesla turbine is already traveling at supersonic speed. If the gas speed is subsonic and with no hope of it ever going supersonic, then the device would either do nothing or it will cause problems if it is not designed properly. If you want to run a Tesla turbine when the air at the intake to the nozzle is supersonic, an Oswatitsch intake may involve lower energy losses that this resonator. Both devices would work best in an aircraft traveling at supersonic speed and a Tesla turbine was being used on board to drive electrical generation equipment or hydraulic equipment.
Mass flow rate of gas into a Tesla turbine can be regulated by using a rectangular cross-section of inlet nozzle. It is very easy to achieve adjustable and variable cross-section area from a rectangular nozzle. An alternative would be to use multiple nozzles of varying cross-section areas. Operate some nozzles and keep others shut off so as to achieve the desired mass flow rate of gas into the Tesla Discs. 4-nozzles in a 1:2:4:8 cross section ratio will give a 1:2:4:8 mass flow rate ratio into the Tesla discs, which in turn would yield 15-mass flow settings and also 15-power settings in equal steps.
Tesla's New Monarch of Machines
From the "New York Herald
Tribune", Oct. 15th 1911
Suppose
someone should discover a new mechanical principle--something as
fundamental as James Watt's discovery of the expansive power of steam--by the
use of which it became possible to build a motor that would give ten horse
power for every pound of the engine's weight, a motor so simple that the verist
novice in mechanics could construct it and so elemental that it could not
possibly get out of repair. Then suppose that this motor could be run forward
or backward at will, that it could be used as either an engine or a pump, that
it cost almost nothing to build as compared with any other known form of
engine, that it utilized a larger percentage of the available power than any
existing machine, and, finally, that it would operate with gas, steam,
compressed air or water, any one of them, as its driving power.
It
does not take a mechanical expert to imagine the limitless possibilities of such
an engine. It takes very little effort to conjure up a picture of a new world
of industry and transportation made possible by the invention of such a device.
"Revolutionary" seems a mild term to apply to it. That, however, is
the word the inventor uses in describing it--Nikola Tesla, the scientist whose
electrical discoveries underlie all modern electrical power development, whose
experiments and deductions made the wireless telegraph possible, and who now,
in the mechanical field, has achieved a triumph even more far reaching than
anything he accomplished in electricity.
There
is something of the romantic in this discovery of the famous explorer of the
hidden realms of knowledge. The pursuit of an ideal is always romantic, and it
was in the pursuit of an ideal which he has been seeking twenty years that Dr.
Tesla made his great discovery. That ideal is the power to fly--to fly with
certainty and absolute safety--not merely to go up in an airplane and take
chances on weather conditions, "holes in the air," tornadoes,
lightning and the thousand other perils the aviator of today faces, but to fly
with the speed and certainty of a cannon ball, with power to overcome any of
nature's aerial forces, to start when one pleases, go whither one pleases and
alight where one pleases. That has been the aim of Dr. Tesla's life for nearly
a quarter of a century. He believes that with the discovery of the principle of
his new motor he has solved this problem and that incidentally he has laid the
foundations for the most startling new achievements in other mechanical lines.
There
was a time when men of science were skeptical--a time when they ridiculed the
announcement of revolutionary discoveries. Those were the days when Nikola
Tesla, the young scientist from the Balkans, was laughed at when he urged his
theories on the engineering world. Times have changed since then, and the
"practical" engineer is not so incredulous about
"scientific" discoveries. The change came about when young Tesla
showed the way by which the power of Niagara Falls could be utilized. The right
to divert a portion of the waters of Niagara had been granted; then arose the
question of how best to utilize the tremendous power thus made available--how
to transmit it to the points where it could be commercially utilized. An
international commission sat in London and listened to theories and practical
plans for months.
Up
to that time the only means of utilizing electric power was the direct current
motor, and direct current dynamos big enough to be of practical utility for
such a gigantic power development were not feasible. Then came the announcement
of young Tesla's discovery of the principle of the alternating current motor.
Practical tests showed that it could be built--that it would work. That discovery,
at that opportune time, decided the commission. Electricity was determined upon
as the means for the transmission of Niagara's power to industry and commerce.
Today
a million horse power is developed on the brink of the great cataract, turning
the wheels of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and the intervening cities and
villages operating close at hand the great new electrochemical industries that
the existence of this immense source of power has made possible, while all
around the world a thousand waterfalls are working in the service of mankind,
sending the power of their "white coal" into remote and almost
inaccessible corners of the globe, all because of Nikola Tesla's first great
epoch making discovery.
Today
the engineering world listens respectfully when Dr. Tesla speaks. The first
announcement of the discovery of his new mechanical principle was made in a
technical periodical in mid-September, 1911. Immediately it became the
principal topic of discussions wherever engineers met. "It is the greatest
invention in a century," wrote one of the foremost American engineers, a
man whose name stands close to the top of the list of those who have achieved
scientific fame and greatness. "No invention of such importance in the
automobile trade has yet been made," declared the editor of one of the
leading engineering publications.
Experts
in other engineering lines pointed out other applications of the new principle
and letters asking for further information poured in on Dr. Tesla from the four
quarters of the globe. "Oh, I've had too much publicity," he said,
when I telephoned to him to ask for an interview in order to explain his new
discovery to the non-technical public. It took a good deal of persuasion before
he reluctantly fixed an hour when he would see me, and a good bit more after
that before he talked at all freely. When he did speak, however, he opened up
vistas of possible applications of the new engine that staggered the
imagination of the interviewer.
Looking
out over the city from the windows of his office, on the twentieth floor of the
Metropolitan Tower, his face lit up as he told of his life dream and its
approaching realization, and the listener's fancy could almost see the air full
of strange flying craft, while huge steamships propelled at unheard of speeds
plough the waters of the North River, automobiles climbed the very face of the
Palisades, locomotives of incredible power whisked wheeled palaces many miles a
minute and all the discomforts of summer heat vanished as marvelous
refrigerating plants reduced the temperature of the whole city to a comfortable
maximum--for these were only a few of the suggestions of the limitless
possibilities of the latest Tesla discovery.
"Just
what is your new invention?" I asked. "I have accomplished what
mechanical engineers have been dreaming about ever since the invention of steam
power," replied Dr. Tesla. " That is the
perfect rotary engine. It happens that I have also
produced an engine which will give at least twenty-five times as much power to
a pound of weight as the lightest weight engine of any kind that has yet been
produced. "In doing this I have made use of two properties which have
always been known to be possessed by all fluids, but which have not heretofore
been utilized. These properties are adhesion and viscosity."
"Put
a drop of water on a metal plate. The drop will roll off, but a certain amount
of the water will remain on the plate until it evaporates or is removed by some
absorptive means. The metal does not absorb any of the water, but the water
adheres to it. The drop of water may change its shape, but until its particles
are separated by some external power it remains intact. This tendency of all
fluids to resist molecular separation is viscosity. It is especially noticeable
in the heavier oils. It is these properties of adhesion and viscosity that
cause the 'skin friction' that impedes a ship in its progress through the water
or an airplane in going through the air. All fluids have these qualities--and
you must keep in mind that air is a fluid, all gases are fluids, steam is
fluid. Every known means of transmitting or developing mechanical power is
through a fluid medium."
"Now,
suppose we make this metal plate that I have spoken of circular in shape and
mount it at its center on a shaft so that it can be revolved. Apply power to
rotate the shaft and what happens? Why, whatever fluid the disk happens to be
revolving in is agitated and dragged along in the direction of rotation,
because the fluid tends to adhere to the disk and the viscosity causes the
motion given to the adhering particles of the fluid to be transmitted to the
whole mass. Here, I can show you better than tell you."
Dr.
Tesla led the way into an adjoining room. On a desk was a small electric motor
and mounted on the shaft were half a dozen flat disks, separated by perhaps a
sixteenth of an inch from one another, each disk being less than that in
thickness. He turned a switch and the motor began to buzz. A wave of cool air
was immediately felt. "There we have a disk, or rather a series of
disks, revolving in a fluid--the air," said the inventor. "You
need no proof to tell you that the air is being agitated and propelled
violently. If you will hold your hand over the center of these disks--you see
the centers have been cut away--you will feel the suction as air is drawn in to
be expelled from the peripheries of the disks. Now, suppose these revolving
disks were enclosed in an air tight case, so constructed that the air could
enter only at one point and be expelled only at another--what would we have?"
"You'd have an air pump," I suggested. "Exactly--an air pump
or blower," said Dr. Tesla. "There is one now in operation
delivering ten thousand cubic feet of air a minute. Now, come over
here."...
...He stepped across the hall and
into another room, where three or four draughts men were at work and various
mechanical and electrical contrivances were scattered about. At one side of the
room was what appeared to be a zinc or aluminum tank, divided into two
sections, one above the other, while a pipe that ran along the wall above the
upper division of the tank was connected with a little aluminum case about the
size and shape of a small alarm clock. A tiny electric motor was attached to a
shaft that protruded from one side of the aluminum case. The lower division of
the tank was filled with water. "Inside of this aluminum case are
several disks mounted on a shaft and immersed in a fluid, water," said Dr.
Tesla. "From this lower tank the water has free access to the case
enclosing the disks. This pipe leads from the periphery of the case. I turn the
current on, the motor turns the disks and as I open this valve in the pipe the
water flows."...
He
turned the valve and the water certainly did flow. Instantly a stream that
would have filled a barrel in a very few minutes began to run out of the pipe
into the upper part of the tank and thence into the lower tank. "This
is only a toy," said Dr. Tesla. "There are only half a dozen
disks--'runners,' I call them--each less than three inches in diameter, inside
of that case. They are just like the disks you saw on the first motor--no
vanes, blades or attachments of any kind. Just perfectly smooth, flat disks
revolving in their own planes and pumping water because of the viscosity and
adhesion of the fluid. One such pump now in operation, with eight disks,
eighteen inches in diameter, pumps four thousand gallons a minute to a height
of 360 feet." We went back into the big, well lighted office. I was
beginning to grasp the new Tesla principle. "Suppose now we reversed
the operation," continued the inventor. "You have seen the disks
acting as a pump. Suppose we had water, or air under pressure, or steam under
pressure, or gas under pressure, and let it run into the case in which the
disks are contained--what would happen?"...
"The disks would revolve and
any machinery attached to the shaft would be operated--you would convert the
pump into an engine," I suggested. "That is exactly what would
happen--what does happen," replied Dr. Tesla. "It is an engine
that does all that engineers have ever dreamed of an engine doing, and more.
Down at the Waterside power station of the New York Edison Company, through
their courtesy, I have had a number of such engines in operation. In one of
them the disks are only nine inches in diameter and the whole working part is
two inches thick. With steam as the propulsive fluid it develops 110-horse
power, and could do twice as much." "You have got what Professor
Langley was trying to evolve for his flying machine--an engine that will give a
horse power for a pound of weight," I suggested...
Ten Horse Power to the Pound !
"I
have got more than that," replied Dr. Tesla. "I have an
engine that will give ten horse power to the pound of weight. That is
twenty-five times as powerful as the lightest weight engine in use today. The
lightest gas engine used on airplanes weighs two and one-half pounds to the
horse power. With two and one-half pounds of weight I can develop twenty-five
horse power."
"That
means the solution of the problem of flying," I suggested. "Yes,
and many more," was the reply. "The applications of this
principle, both for imparting power to fluids, as in pumps, and for deriving
power from fluids, as in turbine, are boundless. It costs almost nothing to
make, there is nothing about it to get out of order, it is reversible--simply
have two ports for the gas or steam, to enter by, one on each side, and let it
into one side or other. There are no blades or vanes to get out of order--the
steam turbine is a delicate thing." I remembered the bushels of broken
blades that were gathered out of the turbine casings of the first turbine
equipped steamship to cross the ocean, and realized the importance of this
phase of the new engine.
"Then,
too," Dr. Tesla went on, "there are no delicate adjustments to
be made. The distance between the disks is not a matter of microscopic accuracy
and there is no necessity for minute clearances between the disks and the case.
All one needs is some disks mounted on a shaft, spaced a little distance apart
and cased so that a fluid can enter at one point and go out at another. If the
fluid enters at the center and goes out at the periphery it is a pump."
"If
it enters at the periphery and goes out at the center it is a motor.
"Coupling these engines in series, one can do away with gearing in
machinery. Factories can be equipped without shafting. The motor is especially
adapted to automobiles, for it will run on gas explosions as well as on steam.
The gas or steam can be let into a dozen ports all around the rim of the case
if desired. It is possible to run it as a gas engine with a continuous flow of
gas, gasoline and air being mixed and the continuous combustion causing
expansion and pressure to operate the motor."
"The
expansive power of steam, as well as its propulsive power, can be utilized as
in a turbine or a reciprocating engine. By permitting the propelling fluid to
move along the lines of least resistance a considerably larger proportion of
the available power is utilized. "As an air compressor it is highly
efficient. There is a large engine of this type now in practical operation as
an air compressor and giving remarkable service. Refrigeration on a scale
hitherto never attempted will be practical, through the use of this engine in
compressing air, and the manufacture of liquid air commercially is now entirely
feasible. With a thousand horse power engine, weighing only one hundred pounds,
imagine the possibilities in automobiles, locomotives and steamships. In the
space now occupied by the engines of the Lusitanian twenty-five times her
80,000 horse power could be developed, were it possible to provide boiler
capacity sufficient to furnish the necessary steam." "And it
makes the airplane practical," I suggested.
"Not the airplane,
the flying machine," responded Dr. Tesla. " Now you have
struck the point in which I am most deeply interested--the object toward which
I have been devoting my energies for more than twenty years--the dream of my
life. It was in seeking the means of making the perfect flying machine that I
developed this engine."
"Twenty
years ago I believed that I would be the first man to fly; that I was on the
track of accomplishing what no one else was anywhere near reaching. I was
working entirely in electricity then and did not realize that the gasoline
engine was approaching a perfection that was going to make the airplane
feasible. There is nothing new about the airplane but its engine, you know.
What I was working on twenty years ago was the wireless transmission of
electric power. My idea was a flying machine propelled by an
electric motor, with power supplied from stations on the earth. I have not
accomplished this as yet, but am confident that I will in time. When I found
that I had been anticipated as to the flying machine, by men working in a
different field I began to study the problem from other angles, to regard it as
a mechanical rather than an electrical problem. I felt certain there must be
some means of obtaining power that was better than any now in use, and by
vigorous use of my gray matter for a number of years I grasped the
possibilities of the principle of the viscosity and adhesion of fluids and
conceived the mechanism of my engine."
"Now
that I have it, my next step will be the perfect flying machine."
"An airplane driven by your engine?" I asked. "Not at all,"
said Dr. Tesla. "The airplane is fatally defective. It is merely a
toy--a sporting plaything. It can never become commercially practical. It has
fatal defects. One is the fact that when it encounters a downward current of
air it is helpless. The 'hole in the air' of which aviators speak is simply a
downward current, and unless the airplane is high enough above the earth to
move laterally but can do nothing but fall. "There is no way of detecting
these downward currents, no way of avoiding them, and therefore the airplane
must always be subject to chance and its operator to the risk of fatal
accident. Sportsmen will always take these chances, but as a business
proposition the risk is too great."
" The flying
machine of the future -- my flying
machine -- will be heavier than air, but it will not be an airplane.
It will have no 
wings. It will
be substantial, solid, stable. You cannot have a stable
airplane. The gyroscope can never be successfully applied to the airplane, for
it would give a stability that would result in the machine being torn to pieces
by the wind, just as the unprotected airplane on the ground is torn to pieces
by a high wind. My flying machine will have neither wings nor propellers. You
might see it on the ground and you would never guess that it was a flying
machine. Yet it will be able to move at will through the air in any direction
with perfect safety, higher speeds than have yet been reached, regardless of
weather and oblivious of 'holes in the air' or downward currents. It will
ascend in such currents if desired. It can remain absolutely stationary in the
air even in a wind for great length of time. Its lifting power will not depend
upon any such delicate devices as the bird has to employ, but upon positive
mechanical action."
wings. It will
be substantial, solid, stable. You cannot have a stable
airplane. The gyroscope can never be successfully applied to the airplane, for
it would give a stability that would result in the machine being torn to pieces
by the wind, just as the unprotected airplane on the ground is torn to pieces
by a high wind. My flying machine will have neither wings nor propellers. You
might see it on the ground and you would never guess that it was a flying
machine. Yet it will be able to move at will through the air in any direction
with perfect safety, higher speeds than have yet been reached, regardless of
weather and oblivious of 'holes in the air' or downward currents. It will
ascend in such currents if desired. It can remain absolutely stationary in the
air even in a wind for great length of time. Its lifting power will not depend
upon any such delicate devices as the bird has to employ, but upon positive
mechanical action."
"You
will get stability through gyroscopes?" I asked. "Through
gyroscopic action of my engine, assisted by some devices I am not yet prepared
to talk about," he replied. "Powerful air currents that may be
deflected at will, if produced by engines and compressors sufficiently light
and powerful, might lift a heavy body off the ground and propel it through the
air," I ventured, wondering if I had grasped the inventor's secret.
Dr.
Tesla smiled an inscrutable smile. " All I have to say on that point is
that my airship will have neither gas bag, wings nor propellers," he said.
"It is the child of my dreams, the product of years of intense and
painful toil and research. I am not going to talk about it any further. But
whatever my airship may be, here at least is an engine that will do things that
no other engine ever has done, and that is something tangible."
The Tesla Pump
Looking
out over the city from the windows of his office, on the twentieth floor of the
Metropolitan Tower, his face lit up as he told of his life dream and its
approaching realization, and the listener's fancy could almost see the air full
of strange flying craft, while huge steamships propelled at unheard of speeds
plough the waters of the North River, automobiles climbed the very face of the
Palisades, locomotives of incredible power whisked wheeled palaces many miles a
minute and all the discomforts of summer heat vanished as marvelous
refrigerating plants reduced the temperature of the whole city to a comfortable
maximum, for these were only a few of the suggestions of the limitless
possibilities of the latest Tesla discovery.
"Just
what is your new invention?" I asked. "I have accomplished what
mechanical engineers have been dreaming about ever since the invention of steam
power," replied Dr. Tesla. "That is the perfect rotary engine. It happens that I
have also produced an engine which will give at least twenty-five times as much
power to a pound of weight as the lightest weight engine of any kind that has
yet been produced. "In doing this I have made use of two properties which
have always been known to be possessed by all fluids, but which have not
heretofore been utilized. These properties are adhesion and viscosity.
"Put
a drop of water on a metal plate. The drop will roll off, but a certain amount
of the water will remain on the plate until it evaporates or is removed by some
absorptive means. The metal does not absorb any of the water, but the water
adheres to it. "The drop of water may change its shape, but until its
particles are separated by some external power it remains intact. This tendency
of all fluids to resist molecular separation is viscosity. It is especially
noticeable in the heavier oils. "It is these properties of adhesion and
viscosity that cause the 'skin friction' that impedes a ship in its progress
through the water or an airplane in going through the air. All fluids have
these qualities--and you must keep in mind that air is a fluid, all gases are
fluids, steam is fluid. Every known means of transmitting or developing
mechanical power is through a fluid medium.
"Now, suppose
we make this metal plate that I have spoken of circular in shape and mount it
at its center on a shaft so that it can be revolved. Apply power to rotate the
shaft and what happens? Why, whatever fluid the disk happens to be revolving in
is agitated and dragged along in the direction of rotation, because the fluid
tends to adhere to the disk and the viscosity causes the motion given to the
adhering particles of the fluid to be transmitted to the whole mass. Here, I
can show you better than tell you." Dr. Tesla led the way into an
adjoining room.
On
a desk was a small electric motor and mounted on the shaft were half a dozen
flat disks, separated by perhaps a sixteenth of an inch from one another, each
disk being less than that in thickness. He turned a switch and the motor began
to buzz. A wave of cool air was immediately felt. "There we have a disk,
or rather a series of disks, revolving in a fluid--the air," said the
inventor. "You need no proof to tell you that the air is being agitated
and propelled violently. If you will hold your hand over the center of these
disks--you see the centers have been cut away--you will feel the suction as air
is drawn in to be expelled from the peripheries of the disks. "Now,
suppose these revolving disks were enclosed in an air tight case, so
constructed that the air could enter only at one point and be expelled only at
another--what would we have?" "You'd have an air pump," I
suggested. "Exactly--an air pump or blower," said Dr. Tesla.
"There is one now in operation delivering ten thousand cubic feet of air a
minute. "Now, come over here."
He
stepped across the hall and into another room, where three or four draughts men
were at work and various mechanical and electrical contrivances were scattered
about. At one side of the room was what appeared to be a zinc or aluminum tank,
divided into two sections, one above the other, while a pipe that ran along the
wall above the upper division of the tank was connected with a little aluminum
case about the size and shape of a small alarm clock. A tiny electric motor was
attached to a shaft that protruded from one side of the aluminum case. The
lower division of the tank was filled with water. "Inside of this aluminum
case are several disks mounted on a shaft and immersed in a fluid, water,"
said Dr. Tesla. "From this lower tank the water has free access to the
case enclosing the disks. This pipe leads from the periphery of the case. I
turn the current on, the motor turns the disks and as I open this valve in the
pipe the water flows."
He
turned the valve and the water certainly did flow. Instantly a stream that
would have filled a barrel in a very few minutes began to run out of the pipe
into the upper part of the tank and thence into the lower tank. "This
is only a toy," said Dr. Tesla. " There are only half a
dozen disks--'runners,' I call them--each less than three inches in diameter,
inside of that case. They are just like the disks you saw on the first
motor--no vanes, blades or attachments of any kind. Just perfectly smooth, flat
disks revolving in their own planes and pumping water because of the viscosity
and adhesion of the fluid. One such pump now in operation, with eight disks,
eighteen inches in diameter, pumps four thousand gallons a minute to a height
of 360 feet." We went back into the big, well lighted office. I
was beginning to grasp the new Tesla principle...
NIKOLA TESLA'S DISK
TURBINE
Tomorrow's Gas Engine
Is At Our Doorstep
Since its
invention more than 100 years ago the reciprocating explosive gas engine has handily served
mankind as we have sought to replace raw muscle power with that of the machine.
In this type of motor a linear motion is given to one or more pistons by the
compression and explosion of a combustible mixture of vaporized fuel and air.
The energy released by the explosion is transmitted to a crank shaft which
converts the reciprocating movement into rotation. With the passage of time the
primitive device of the 1860s has evolved into a complex marvel of machinery
capable of propelling an automobile at speeds in excess of 300 mph and yet it
still bears the same basic configuration and the same mode of operation as that
of its earliest ancestor.
An alternative to the reciprocating engine is the rotary engine. The most common form of these machines, the conventional bladed turbine, is used for everything from the propulsion of aircraft and large ships to stationary power generation. While working in a somewhat different manner as the machine described above, the end result of its operation is still the same - the creation of torque. Among the advantages to be gained from this design option is a reduction in the number of moving parts. In the rotary engine the piston, connecting rod, crankshaft, and flywheel are replaced by a single moving component known as a rotor. In direct contrast to the typical reciprocating engine, a well balanced rotary engine will operate virtually without vibration. Other advantages include an increase in power to weight ratio and better fuel economy. On the other side of the coin, bladed turbines are highly precision machines built to very close tolerances, and thus are much more expensive.
An alternative to the reciprocating engine is the rotary engine. The most common form of these machines, the conventional bladed turbine, is used for everything from the propulsion of aircraft and large ships to stationary power generation. While working in a somewhat different manner as the machine described above, the end result of its operation is still the same - the creation of torque. Among the advantages to be gained from this design option is a reduction in the number of moving parts. In the rotary engine the piston, connecting rod, crankshaft, and flywheel are replaced by a single moving component known as a rotor. In direct contrast to the typical reciprocating engine, a well balanced rotary engine will operate virtually without vibration. Other advantages include an increase in power to weight ratio and better fuel economy. On the other side of the coin, bladed turbines are highly precision machines built to very close tolerances, and thus are much more expensive.
Nikola Tesla's
disk turbine, the Tesla Turbine , which is said to approach the
ideal rotary heat engine, can be viewed as an inexpensive alternative to the
bladed turbine. It consists simply of multiple shaft mounted disks suspended
upon bearings which position the rotor system within a cylindrical casing. In
operation high velocity gases enter tangentially at the periphery of the disks,
flow between them in free spiral paths to exit, depleted of energy, through
central exhaust ports. The slight viscosity of the moving gas along with its
adhesion to the disks' faces combine to drag them along, efficiently
transferring the fuel's energy to the disks and on to the shaft.
The central
component of this unique engine, the rotor, is built up using eight basic
components: ported disks, star washer spacers, ring washer spacers and rivets,
all of which constitute the runner subassembly, and the rotor shaft with its
shaft keys, bearings and lock nuts. Fabrication of the runner is fairly
straight forward. The parts are assembled with the aid of a stub shaft that has
three key ways machined in it to line up with three complimentary key ways
machined in the center hole of each disk. The stub shaft's length should be
about three times the intended width of the runner. One end of the shaft is
threaded and a shoulder ring is fastened just over a third of the way in from
that end.
Assembly begins
by slipping one of the thicker end disks on to the shaft. With the rivets
inserted the first set of spacers are installed followed by the first thin
disk. Additional spacers and disks are added in sequence with the second end
disk going on last. (An operational note: In addition to providing spacing and
support to the disks, each ring spacer also adds a small amount of lift that
helps to propel the runner around.) At this point half a dozen or more
"C" clamps are used to compress the subassembly so the rivets can be
tightly peened down. The next step is truing up of the runner's width with a
surface cut across the faces of the two end disks.
While it is not
as critical, the runner's outside circumference can also be trued up at this
point. Care should be exercised here to reduce the chance of damage. Any burrs
and irregularities can next be removed with a narrow cutting tool. Now that the
runner subassembly is nearly completed all that remains to be done is to
remount it on the actual motor shaft for dynamic balancing. This is done with
the aid of sophisticated machinery through the removal metal from appropriate
locations around the runner's perimeter by the drilling of shallow holes near
or directly into the outer edges of the end disks.
As a starting
point, the thickness of the spacers and thus the dimension of the
intra-discular space can be approximated using the depth of boundary layer of
air adjacent to the disks' surfaces. The boundary layer's true depth will
depend somewhat upon the temperature and density of the propelling gas. Drawing
on the science of aerodynamics we learn that the boundary layer on the skin of
an aircraft in flight is approximately .020 of an inch in depth.
So, it can be
assumed the layer on each side of the disks is nearly .020" thick also. If
the disk spacing were to exceed .040" there would be a space through which
some of the propelling fluid could flow and fail to effectively interact with
the gas molecules making up the boundary layer. Reduce the spacing to
.040" and the two layers could be said to come in contact with each other.
This sets the maximum limit of spacing. With a spacing of .030", a standard
thickness of 304 stainless sheet stock, the two layers would overlap by
.010". The practical experience of at least one disk turbine builder lends
support to the use of .030" for the thickness of the spacers and the disks
as well.
The engine rotor
housing or casing as described in Tesla's turbine patent consists of two basic
elements, not counting seals. These are a central ring casting and two end
plate castings to which the flange pillow block bearing assemblies are bolted.
As can be seen from the figure an alternative configuration involves the use of
an upper and lower casting. A third option incorporates four castings, both
left and right, top and bottom.
Many independent
builders choose the first option, preferring to bypass the casting process and
mill all of their housing components from commercially available stock. Another
important element associated with the casing is the inlet nozzle through which
the propelling fluid is introduced. If reversibility is desired, a second
nozzle can be installed for the introduction of fluid in the opposite
direction. Using compressed air or even steam to operate such a motor as
described here is fairly straight forward. All that is needed is a compressor
or a conventional boiler as the source of pressurized fluid. If, however, this
motor is to be run on gasoline or some other explosive fuel it needs an
accessory apparatus or fluid pressure generator into which the fuel and air are
injected, to mix and than be ignited. The products of combustion that are
developed, along with steam, if water is also injected, are then directed
through a nozzle into the rotor housing.
Such pressure
generating appliances that are used in conjunction with upstream compressor
stages already exist. In them an ignited fuel air mixture is continuously
burned to provide a nearly uniform flame front. Another important creation of
Nikola Tesla's, called the valvular conduit, simplifies the design even further
by reducing the need for a compressor while also making possible the
introduction of a modified combustion regime. When incorporated at the
combustion chamber inlets the valvular action of this device makes the turbine
more like an internal combustion engine. While introduction of fuel and air
proceeds as usual, immediately upon the point of ignition all of the inlets are
effectively closed. This is due to the action of the valvular conduit which,
without moving parts, has the singular property of permitting free flow to
occur in one direction only.
After the hot
gases enter into the turbine, natural venting working in combination with an
optional compressor or downstream ventilator clears the combustion chamber and
promotes the introduction of another charge. In such a manner successive
explosions of the fuel air mixture occur and are projected through the nozzle.
The rapidity of these pulses depends primarily upon the volume of the
combustion chamber and the degree of ventilation. In speaking of their
frequency Tesla said, "I have been able to speed up the rate of such
explosions until the sound of exploding gasses produced a musical note."
What
improvements might be made to the basic disk turbine design? Between 1906 and
1927 Tesla made real progress optimizing the engine. Nevertheless, it is
reasonable to expect that some further work could have a positive effect on the
machine's performance. A first step might be to evaluate the properties of the
propelling fluid as it exists while inside the engine casing. In this way the
intra-discular spacing might be modified in response to the actual boundary
layer depth and physical conditions at and near the disk surfaces. Another
possibility lies in working with the number, size and distribution of the
rivets and more importantly the ring washer spacers that are positioned between
the turbine disks. A third area warranting serious investigation relates to the
materials used in construction of the runner subassembly.
It is well known
that any increase in the allowable turbine operating temperature results in
higher engine efficiency. Turbine engineers have long sought exotic materials
out of which to fabricate their turbine blades, the most heat sensitive
component. These efforts have resulted in the development of a variety of
suitable materials. One of the best that is presently being used is a complex
super alloy known as Inconel. Its three principal constituents are: nickel
(60%), chromium (16%), and cobalt (8.5%), with lesser amounts of aluminum,
titanium, tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum and cadmium. Inconel has proven
capable of sustaining turbine inlet temperatures of 1,832 F. It is interesting
to note that some of Tesla's turbine disks were fabricated out of a material
known as German Silver. This hard alloy, once commonly used for tableware, also
contains nickel along with copper and zinc in varying proportions.
No doubt the
super high performance heat engines of the future will be constructed of even
more advanced temperature resistant, high strength materials. There are a
number of promising possibilities in this regard. One prospect is
injection-molded silicon nitride (Si3N4) strengthened with silicon carbide
(SiC) whiskers. Components formed out of this ceramic composite are processed
using a technique known as Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP).
Another
candidate is a metal matrix composite of niobium (Nb) combined with tungsten
mesh, or refractory fibers of Nicalon or FP-Al2O3 for reinforcement. Components
made of niobium matrix composites require an iridium coating for oxidation
protection. A third promising contestant that has been identified is a reaction
milled composite called AlN dispersoid-reinforced NiAl. This nickel-aluminum
alloy based material is produced by milling NiAl powder in liquid nitrogen.
While actual performance data are not yet available for the NiAl/AlN composite,
tests show that it compares very favorably with other super alloys that are
presently being used.
A related
material known as single crystal NiAl has already been formed into turbine
blades and could be adopted immediately. A near term benefit to be derived from
the use of this material, as with the other NiAl compounds, would be a
substantial reduction in weight. In this case weight savings in a conventional
rotor blade and disk system would be about 40%. Furthermore, it is expected
that techniques will be developed to control high temperature deformation of
these oxidation resistant materials. This will result in heat engines with
further reduced cooling requirements and even higher operating temperatures.
Dr. Tesla's
engineering legacy when placed in context with recent developments in the areas
of conventional turbine engine design, tooling, materials processing and
electronics establishes a secure platform for the development of a radically
new type of automobile engine and drive train. By adopting an interdisciplinary
approach that incorporates new light weight carbon fiber composite materials,
advanced power electronics and microprocessors in combination with hydraulics
and our best electric motors we can have a form of personal transportation such
as the world has never seen. The vehicles of the twenty-first century promise
to be more efficient, economical, durable, better performing and easy on the
environment than anything we have on the road today!
compliments:
Gary Peterson - 21st Century Books, http://www.tfcbooks.com.
Tesla's Turbine:
WHEN his World
Wireless System project crashed, Tesla turned again to a project to which he had given considerable
thought at the time he was developing his poly phase alternating-current
system: that of developing a rotary engine which would be as far in advance of
existing steam engines as his alternating-current system was ahead of the
direct-current system, and which could be used for driving his dynamos. All of
the steam engines in use in powerhouses at that time were of the reciprocating
type; essentially the same as those developed by Newcomer and Watt, but larger
in size, better in construction and more efficient in operation. Tesla's engine
was of a different type--a turbine in which jets of steam injected between a
series of disks produced rotary motion at high velocity in the cylinder on
which these disks were mounted. The steam entered at the outer edge of the
disks, pursued a spiral path of a dozen or more convolutions, and left the
engine near the central shaft.
When Tesla
informed a friend in 1902 that he was working on an engine project, he declared
he would produce an engine so small, simple and powerful that it would be a
''powerhouse in a hat.'' The first model, which he made about 1906, fulfilled
this promise. It was small enough to fit into the dome of a derby hat, measured
a little more than six inches in its largest dimension, and developed thirty
horsepower. The power-producing performance of this little engine vastly
exceeded that of every known kind of prime mover in use at that time.
The engine
weighed a little less than ten pounds. Its output was therefore three
horsepower per pound. The rotor weighed only a pound and a half, and its light
weight and high power yield gave Tesla a slogan which he used on his
letterheads and envelopes--''Twenty horsepower per pound.'' There was nothing
new, of course, in the basic idea of obtaining circular motion directly from a
stream of moving fluid. Windmills and water wheels, devices as old as history,
performed this feat. Hero, the Alexandrian writer, about 200 bc, described, but
he did not invent, the first turbine. It consisted of a hollow sphere of metal
mounted on an axle, with two tubes sticking out of the sphere at a tangent to
its surface. When water was placed in the sphere and the device was suspended
in a fire, the reaction of the steam coming out of the tubes caused the device
to rotate.
Tesla's ingenious
and original development of the turbine idea probably had its origin in that
amusing and unsuccessful experiment he made when, as a boy, he tried to build a
vacuum motor and observed its wooden cylinder turn slightly by the drag of the
air leaking into the vacuum chamber. Later, too, when as a youth he fled to the
mountains to escape military service and played with the idea of transporting
mail across the ocean through an underwater tube, through which a hollow sphere
was to be carried by a rapidly moving stream of water, he had discovered that
the friction of the water on the walls of the tube made the idea impracticable.
The friction would slow down the velocity of the stream of water so that
excessive amounts of power would be required to move the water at a desired
speed and pressure. Conversely, if the water moved at this speed, the friction
caused it to try to drag the enclosing tube along with it.
It was this
friction which Tesla now utilized in his turbine. A jet of steam rushing at
high velocity between disks with a very small distance separating them was
slowed down by the friction--but the disks, being capable of rotation, moved
with increasing velocity until it was almost equal to that of the steam. In
addition to the friction factor, there exists a peculiar attraction between
gases and metal surfaces; and this made it possible for the moving steam to
grip the metal of the disks more effectively and drag them around at high
velocities. The first model which Tesla made in 1906 had twelve disks five
inches in diameter. It was operated by compressed air, instead of steam, and
attained a speed of 20,000 revolutions per minute. It was Tesla's intention
eventually to use oil as fuel, burning it in a nozzle and taking advantage of
the tremendous increase in volume, in the change from a liquid to burned highly
expanded gases, to turn the rotor. This would eliminate the use of boilers for
generating steam and give the direct process proportional increased efficiency.
Had Tesla
proceeded with the development of his turbine in 1889 when he returned from the
Westinghouse plant, his turbine might perhaps have been the one eventually
developed to replace the slow, big, lumbering reciprocating engines then in
use. The fifteen years, however, which he devoted to the development of
currents of high potential and high frequency, had entailed a delay which gave
opportunity for developers of other turbine ideas to advance their work to a
stage which now was effective in putting Tesla in the status of a very late starter.
In the meantime, turbines had been developed which were virtually windmills in
a box. They consisted of rotors with small buckets or vanes around the
circumference which were struck by the incoming steam jet. They lacked the
simplicity of the Tesla turbine; but by the time Tesla introduced his type, the
others were well entrenched in the development stage. Tesla's first tiny motor
was built in 1906 by Julius C. Czito, who operated at Astoria, Long Island, a
machine shop for making inventor's models. He also built the subsequent 1911
and 1925 models of the turbine, and many other devices on which Tesla worked up
to 1929. Mr. Czito's father had been a member of Tesla's staff in the Houston
Street laboratories, from 1892 to 1899, and at Colorado Springs.
Mr. Czito's
description of the first model is as follows: "The rotor consisted of a
stack of very thin disks six inches in diameter, made of German silver. The
disks were one thirty-second of an inch thick and were separated by spacers of
the same metal and same thickness but of much smaller diameter which were cut
in the form of a cross with a circular center section. The extended arms served
as ribs to brace the disks...There were eight disks and the edgewise face of
the stack was only one-half inch across. They were mounted on the center of a
shaft about six inches long. The shaft was nearly an inch in diameter in the
mid section and was tapered in steps to less than half an inch at the ends. The
rotor was set in a casing made in four parts bolted together.
The circular
chamber where the rotor turned was accurately machined to allow a clearance of
one sixty-fourth of an inch between the casing and the face of the rotor. Mr.
Tesla desired an almost touching fit between the rotor face and the casing when
the latter was turning. The large clearance was necessary because the rotor
attained tremendously high speeds, averaging 35,000 revolutions per minute. At
this speed the centrifugal force generated by the turning movement was so great
it appreciably stretched the metal in the rotating disks. Their diameter when
turning at top speed was one thirty-second of an inch greater than when they
were standing still." A larger model was built by Tesla in 1910. It had
disks twelve inches in diameter, and with a speed of 10,000 revolutions per
minute it developed 100 horsepower, indicating a greatly improved efficiency
over the first model. It developed more than three times as much power at half
the speed. During the following year, 1911, still further improvements were made.
The disks were reduced to a diameter of 9.75 inches and the speed of operation
was cut down by ten per cent, to 9,000 revolutions per minute--and the power
output increased by ten per cent, to 110 horsepower!
Following this
test, Tesla issued a statement in which he declared: I have developed 110
horsepower with disks nine and three quarter inches in diameter and making a
thickness of about two inches. Under proper conditions the performance might
have been as much as 1,000 horsepower. In fact there is almost no limit to the
mechanical performance of such a machine. This engine will work with gas, as in
the usual type of explosion engine used in automobiles and airplanes, even
better than it did with steam. Tests which I have conducted have shown that the
rotary effort with gas is greater than with steam. Enthusiastic over the
success of his smaller models of the turbine, operated on compressed air, and
to a more limited extent by direct combustion of gasoline, Tesla designed and
built a larger, double unit, which he planned to test with steam in the
Waterside Station, the main powerhouse of the New York Edison Company.
This was a
station which had originally been designed to operate on the direct-current
system developed by Edison--but it was now operating throughout on Tesla's poly
phase alternating-current system. Now Tesla, invading the Edison sanctum to
test a new type of turbine which he hoped would replace the types in use, was
definitely in enemy territory. The fact that he had Morgan backing, and that
the Edison Company was a ``Morgan company,'' had no nullifying effect on the
Edison-Tesla feud. This situation was not softened in any way by Tesla's method
of carrying on his tests. Tesla was a confirmed ''sun dodger''; he preferred to
work at night rather than in the daytime.
Powerhouses, not
from choice but from necessity, have their heaviest demands for current after
sunset. The day load would be relatively light; but as darkness approached, the
dynamos started to groan under the increasing night load. The services of the
workers at the Waterside Station were made available to Tesla for the setting
up and tests of his turbine with the expectation that the work would be done
during the day when the tasks of the workers were easiest. Tesla, however, would
rarely show up until five o'clock in the afternoon, or later, and would turn a
deaf ear to the pleas of workers that he arrive earlier. He insisted that
certain of the workers whom he favored remain after their five-o'clock quitting
time on the day shift to work with him on an overtime basis. Nor did he
maintain a conciliatory attitude toward the engineering staff or the officials
of the company. The attitudes, naturally, were mutual.
The turbine Nikola Tesla built for this test had a rotor 18
inches in diameter which turned at a speed of 9,000 revolutions per minute. It
developed 200 horsepower. The overall dimensions of the engine were--three feet
long, two feet wide and two feet high. It weighed 400 pounds. Two such turbines
were built and installed in a line on a single base. The shafts of both were
connected to a torque rod. Steam was fed to both engines so that, if they were
free to rotate, they would turn in opposite directions. The power developed was
measured by the torque rod connected to the two opposing shafts. At a formal
test, to which Tesla invited a great many guests, he issued a statement in
which he said, as reported, in part:
"It should
be noted that although the experimental plant develops 200 horsepower with 125
pounds at the supply pipe and free exhaust it could show an output of 300
horsepower with full pressure of the supply circuit. If the turbine were
compounded and the exhaust were led to a low pressure unit carrying about three
times the number of disks contained in the high pressure element, with
connection to a condenser affording 28.5 to 29.0 inches of vacuum the results obtained
in the present high pressure machine indicate that the compounded unit would
give an output of 600 horsepower without great increase of dimensions. This
estimate is very conservative."
Tests have shown
that when the turbine is running at 9,000 revolutions per minute under an inlet
pressure of 125 pounds to the square inch and with free exhaust 200 brake
horsepower are developed. The consumption under these conditions of maximum
output is 38 pounds of saturated steam per horsepower per hour, a very high
efficiency when we consider that the heat drop, measured by thermometers, is
only 130 B.T.U. and that the energy transformation is effected in one stage.
Since three times the number of heat units are available in a modern plant with
superheat and high vacuum the utilization of these facilities would mean a
consumption of less than 12 pounds per horsepower hour in such turbines adapted
to take the full drop.
Under certain
conditions very high thermal efficiencies have been obtained which demonstrate
that in large machines based on this principle steam consumption will be much
lower and should approximate the theoretical minimum thus resulting in the
nearly frictionless turbine transmitting almost the entire expansive energy of
the steam to the shaft. It should be kept in mind that all of the turbines
which Tesla built and tested were single-stage engines, using about one-third
of the energy of the steam. In practical use, they were intended to be
installed with a second stage which would employ the remaining energy and
increase the power output about two or three fold. (The two types of turbines
in common use each have a dozen and more stages within a single shell.)
Some of the
Edison electric camp, observing the torque-rod tests and apparently not
understanding that in such a test the two rotors remain stationary--their
opposed pressures staging a tug of war measured as torque--circulated the story
that the turbine was a complete failure; that this turbine would not be
practical if its efficiency had been increased a thousand fold. It was stories
such as these that contributed to the imputation that Tesla was an impractical
visionary. The Tesla turbine, however, used as a single-stage engine,
functioning as a pygmy power producer, in the form in which it was actually
tested, anticipated by more than twenty five years a type of turbine which has
been installed in recent years in the Waterside Station. This is a very small
engine, with blades on its rotor, known as a ''topping turbine,'' which is
inserted in the steam line between the boilers and the ordinary turbines. Steam
of increased pressure is supplied, and the topping turbine skims this ``cream''
from the steam and exhausts steam that runs the other turbines in their normal
way. The General Electric Company was developing the Curtis turbine at that
time, and the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company was developing
the Parsons turbine; and neither company showed the slightest interest in
Tesla's demonstration.
Further
development of his turbine on a larger scale would have required a large amount
of money--and Tesla did not possess even a small amount. Finally he succeeded
in interesting the Allis Chalmers Manufacturing Company of Milwaukee, builders
of reciprocating engines and turbines, and other heavy machinery. In typical
Tesla fashion, though, he manifested in his negotiations such a lack of
diplomacy and insight into human nature that he would have been better of if he
had completely failed to make any arrangements for exploiting the turbine.
Tesla, an
engineer, ignored the engineers on the Allis Chalmers staff and went directly
to the president. While an engineering report was being prepared on his
proposal, he went to the Board of Directors and ''sold'' that body on his
project before the engineers had a chance to be heard. Three turbines were
built. Two of them had twenty disks eighteen inches in diameter and were tested
with steam at eighty pounds pressure. They developed at speeds of 12,000 and
10,000 revolutions per minute, respectively, 200 horsepower. This was exactly
the same power output as had been achieved by Tesla's 1911 model, which had
disks of half this diameter and was operated at 9,000 revolutions under 125
pounds pressure. A much larger engine was tackled next. It had fifteen disks
sixty inches in diameter, was designed to operate at 3,600 revolutions per
minute, and was rated at 500 kilowatts capacity, or about 675 horsepower. Hans
Dahlstrand, Consulting Engineer of the Steam Turbine Department, reports, in
part:
We also built a 500 kw steam
turbine to operate at 3,600 revolutions. The turbine rotor consisted of fifteen
disks 60 inches in diameter and one eighth inch thick. The disks were placed
approximately one eighth inch apart. The unit was tested by connecting to a
generator. The maximum mechanical efficiency obtained on this unit was
approximately 38 per cent when operating at steam pressure of approximately 80
pounds absolute and a back pressure of approximately 3 pounds absolute and 100
degrees F superheat at the inlet. When the steam pressure was increased above
that given the mechanical efficiency dropped, consequently the design of these
turbines was of such a nature that in order to obtain maximum efficiency at
high pressure, it would have been necessary to have more than one turbine in
series.
The efficiency
of the small turbine units compares with the efficiency obtainable on small
impulse turbines running at speeds where they can be directly connected to
pumps and other machinery. It is obvious, therefore, that the small unit in
order to obtain the same efficiency had to operate at from 10,000 to 12,000
revolutions and it would have been necessary to provide reduction gears between
the steam turbine and the driven unit. Furthermore, the design of the Tesla
turbine could not compete as far as manufacturing costs with the smaller type
of impulse units. It is also questionable whether the rotor disks, because of
light construction and high stress, would have lasted any length of time if
operating continuously. The above remarks apply equally to the large turbine
running at 3,600 revolutions. It was found when this unit was dismantled that
the disks had distorted to a great extent and the opinion was that these disks
would ultimately have failed if the unit had been operated for any length of
time.
The gas turbine
was never constructed for the reason that the company was unable to obtain
sufficient engineering information from Mr. Tesla indicating even an
approximate design that he had in mind. Tesla appears to have walked out on the
tests at this stage. In Milwaukee, however, there was no George Westinghouse to
save the situation. Later, during the twenties, the author asked Tesla why he
had terminated his work with the Allis Chalmers Company. He replied: ''They
would not build the turbines as I wished''; and he would not amplify the
statement further. The Allis Chalmers Company later became the pioneer
manufacturers of another type of gas turbine that has been in successful
operation for years.
While the
Dahlstrand report may appear to be severely critical of the Tesla turbine and
to reveal fundamental weaknesses in it not found in other turbines, such is not
the case. The report is, in general, a fair presentation of the results; and
the description of apparent weaknesses merely offers from another viewpoint the
facts which Tesla himself stated about the turbine in his earlier test--that
when employed as a single-stage engine it uses only about a third of the energy
of the steam, and that to utilize the remainder, it would have to be compounded
with a second turbine. The reference to a centrifugal force of 70,000 pounds
resulting from the high speed of rotation of the rotor, causing damage to the
disks, refers to a common experience with all types of turbines. This is made clear
in a booklet on ''The Story of the Turbine,'' issued during the past year by
the General Electric Company, in which it is stated: It [the turbine] had to
wait until engineers and scientists could develop materials to withstand these
pressures and speeds. For example, a single bucket in a modern turbine
traveling at 600 miles per hour has a centrifugal force of 90,000 pounds trying
to pull it from its attachment on the bucket wheel and shaft. . . .
In this raging
inferno the high pressure buckets at one end of the turbine run red hot while a
few feet away the large buckets in the last stages run at 600 miles per hour
through a storm of tepid rain--so fast that the drops of condensed steam cut
like a sand blast. Dahlstrand reported that difficulties were encountered in
the Tesla turbine from vibration, making it necessary to re-enforce the disks.
That this difficulty is common to all turbines is further indicated by the
General Electric booklet, which states:
Vibration
cracked buckets and wheels and wrecked turbines, sometimes within a few hours
and sometimes after years of operation. This vibration was caused by taking
such terrific amounts of power from relatively light machinery--it some cases
as much as 400 horsepower out of a bucket weighing but a pound or two. . . .
The major
problems of the turbine are four--high temperatures, high pressures, high
speeds and internal vibration. And their solution lies in engineering, research
and manufacturing skill. These problems are still awaiting their final solution,
even with the manufacturers who have been building turbines for forty years;
and the fact that they were encountered in the Tesla turbine, and so reported,
is not a final criticism of Tesla's invention in the earliest stages of its
development.
The development
of new alloys, which can now almost be made to order with desired qualities of
mechanical stability under conditions of high temperature and great stresses,
is largely responsible for this turn of events. It is a possibility that if the
Tesla turbine were constructed with the benefit of two or more stages, thus
giving it the full operating range of either the Curtis or the Parsons turbine,
and were built with the same benefits of engineering skill and modern
metallurgical developments as have been lavished on these two turbines, the
vastly greater simplicity of the Tesla turbine would enable it to manifest
greater efficiencies of operation and economies of construction.
Boundary-Layer
Breakthrough
The TESLA BLADELESS DISK TURBINE
INTRODUCTION
Most
people remember Nikola Tesla for his work and revelations in the field of
electrical energy and the invention of radio. However, Tesla had a life long
interest in developing a flying
machine. Tesla had envisioned himself as the first man that would fly. He
had planned to build an aircraft that would operate on electric motors.
However, the first men who successfully flew an aircraft used the reciprocating
internal combustion engine. Though successful in achieving flight, aircraft
using these engines were dangerous and unpredictable, due to the engine's lack
of adequate power. Tesla turned his attention to revamping the internal
combustion engine so as to make flying safe for all and minimize its
environmental impact. Documented in this text is the result of Tesla's
endeavors and the resulting marvel of machines called the Bladeless Boundary-
Layer Turbine.
Although
Tesla's dream for his engines application in aircraft was not realized in his
life time, if allowed to be used in aircraft today, it would provide a quiet,
safe, simple and efficient alternative to our supposedly advanced bladed
turbine aircraft engines. It has been estimated that an increase in fuel
efficiency of a factor of three could be realized in aircraft and thus
substantially reduce pollution. Not only this, the Bladeless Tesla Turbine
Engine can turn at much higher speeds with total safety. If a conventional
bladed turbine engine goes critical or fails, watch out, you have exploding
parts slicing through hydraulic lines, control surfaces and maybe even you.
With the Bladeless Tesla Turbine this is not a danger because it
will not explode. If it does go critical, as has been documented in tests at
85,000 rpm, the failed component will not explode but implode into tiny pieces
which are ejected through the exhaust while the undamaged components continue
to provide thrust to keep you airborne. We. can only speculate on the human
suffering that could and should be averted.
The
application of this amazing engine was not to be limited to aircraft. Tesla was
setting up plans to replace what he considered the wasteful, polluting,
inefficient and complicated reciprocating engine in all its applications,
including the automobile. Tesla's small but powerful engine has only one moving
part and is 95% efficient, which means tremendous mileage. It runs vibration
free and doesn't even require a muffler. Not only is this engine 95%
efficient, as compared to 25% efficiency or less of the conventional gas
engine, it can run efficiently on any fuel from sawdust to hydrogen with no
wear on the internal engine components. This engine's speed-torque
characteristic allows full torque at the bottom of the speed range eliminating
the conventional shifting gear transmission. This provides additional economy
as the expensive, complicated and wear prone transmission is eliminated.
Unlike
most people of the time, Tesla was very concerned about the long range
environmental damage the reciprocating engines would create. He stressed over
and over how we must take the long range view and not step out of harmony with
our life support systems. Today the widening concern for Spaceship Earth and
the renewal of an old ethic "We don't inherit the Earth from our
ancestors, we borrow it from our children" is slowly beginning to awaken
people to the concerns of Tesla.
Although
the existence of the automobile on city streets dates back to the first years
of the century, its role as a contributor to air contamination did not receive
wide acceptance among scientists until the 60's. Factual evidence that urban
area smog was chemically related to automobile emissions had been produced and
acknowledged by scientific groups in the 1950's. Despite vehement disagreement
which ensued between government and the automotive industry on this volatile
issue, research and development programs were initiated by both groups in an
effort to identify the reciprocating internal combustion engine's sources of
pollution and determine what corrective action might be taken. Obviously
Tesla's ounce of prevention was not heeded, leaving us with well over the pound
required for a cure with nearly half of all air pollution caused by the
reciprocating internal combustion engine.
The
Boundary Layer Turbine is not only an engine that is hard to comprehend by our
currently imposed standards, but can also be used as a pump with slight
modification. And like its cousin the engine, it has Herculean power. Unlike
conventional pumps that are easily damaged by contaminants, the Bladeless Tesla
Pump can handle particles and corrosives in stride as well as gases with no
cavitation effect that destroys, in short order, conventional type pumps.
These
pumps and engines, though unknown to most, are available for commercial sale.
If large scale commercial production was implemented, these engines and pumps
would be extremely affordable due to their simplicity of manufacture,
longevity, almost total lack of maintenance and the added bonus that they
require no crank case oil.
Almost
a quarter of the air pollution today comes from the coal being burned to
generate electricity. Fuel consumption, resulting in air pollution and acid
rain, could be significantly reduced simply by replacing the conventional blade
steam turbines currently used by utilities with the Bladeless Tesla Steam
Turbine. This also would have the added bonus of drastically reducing
maintenance. But the real solution lies in using low temperature wet steam
occurring naturally from the ground in the form of geothermal energy. This
energy would destroy a conventional bladed steam turbine, unless expensive
steam drying is employed. However, the Bladeless Tesla Steam Turbine requires
no drying and can be connected directly to the geothermal source. It has been
estimated that the geothermal potential in just Southern California alone,
could power the entire North American Continent with NO POLLUTION! Large oil
companies have comprehended the potential of geothermal energy and have
purchased many of these large tracks of prime geothermal land.
Due
to the revolutionary concepts embodied in this engine, we can easily end the so
called energy crisis and dramatically reduce pollution. Even the vested energy
interests are beginning to understand that now is the time for change,
realizing their future health and wealth is directly linked to that of the
environment. You can't hide or buy your way out of a devastated planet. There
must also be a move forward for the many misinformed environmentalists who see
our future as one of regression from technology instead of its proper usage.
Tesla
from his 1919 autobiography, My Inventions: "My alternating system of
power transmission came at a psychological moment, as a long-sought answer to
pressing industrial questions, and although considerable resistance had to be
overcome and opposing interests reconciled, as usual, the commercial introduction
could not be long delayed. Now, compare this situation with that confronting my
turbine, for example. One should think that so simple and beautiful an
invention, possessing many features of an ideal motor, should be adopted at
once and, undoubtedly, it would under similar conditions. But the prospective
effect of the rotating field was not to render worthless existing machinery; on
the contrary, it was to give it additional value. The system lent itself to new
enterprise as well as to improvement of the old. My turbine is an advance of a
character entirely different. It is a radical departure in the sense that its
success would mean the abandonment of the antiquated types of prime movers on
which billions of dollars have been spent. Under such circumstances the
progress must needs be slow and perhaps the greatest impediment is encountered
in the prejudicial opinions created in the minds of experts by organized
opposition."
H.G.
Wells once said that future history will be a race between education and
catastrophe. This book is dedicated to the race for education. Reprinted from:
Boundary-Layer Breakthrough - The Tesla Bladeless Turbine pages 114-118.
From the Complex to the Simple
Scientific American September 30, 1911, page 290
A
MARKED step was taken in the simplification of prime movers when Watt's
cumbersome beam engine, with its ingenious but elaborate parallel motion, gave
way to the present standard reciprocating type, with only piston rod, cross
head and connecting rod interposed between piston and crank. An even greater
advance toward ideal simplicity occurred when, after years of effort by
inventors to produce a practical rotary, Parsons brought out his compact,
though costly, turbine, in which the energy of the steam is developed on a zig-zag
path through multitudinous rows of fixed and moving blades.
And
now comes Mr. Tesla with a motor which bids fair to carry the steam engine
another long step toward the ideally simple prime mover - a motor in which the
fixed and revolving blades of the turbine give place to a set of steel disks of
simple and cheap construction. If the flow of steam in spiral curves between
the adjoining faces of flat disks is an efficient method of developing the
energy of the steam, the prime mover would certainly appear to have been at
last reduced to its simplest terms.
The
further development of the unique turbine which we describe elsewhere will be
followed with close attention by the technical world. The results attained with
this small high-pressure unit are certainly flattering, and give reason to
believe that the addition of a low pressure turbine and a condenser would make
this type of turbine as highly efficient as it is simple and cheap in
construction and maintenance.
The Rotary Heat Motor Reduced to its Simplest Terms
Scientific American September 30, 1911, page 296
It
will interest the readers of the Scientific American to that Nikola Tesla, whose
reputation must, naturally, stand upon the contribution he made to electrical
engineering when the art was yet in its comparative infancy, is by training and
choice a mechanical engineer, with a strong leaning to that branch of it
which is covered by the term "steam engineering." For several years
past he has devoted much of his attention to improvements in thermo-dynamic
conversion, and the result of his theories and practical experiments is to be
found in an entirely new form of prime movers shown in operation at the
waterside station of the New York Edison Company, who kindly placed the
facilities of their great plant at his disposal for carrying on experimental
work.
By
the courtesy of the inventor, we are enabled to publish the accompanying views,
representing the testing plant at the Waterside station, which are the first
photographs of this interesting motor that have yet been made public. The basic
principle which determined Tesla's investigations was the well-known fact that
when a fluid (steam, gas or water) is used as a vehicle of energy, the highest
possible economy can be obtained only when the changes in velocity and
direction of the movement of the fluid are made as gradual and easy as
possible. In the present forms of turbines in which the energy is transmitted
by pressure, reaction or impact, as in the De Laval, Parsons, and Curtiss
types, more or less sudden changes both of speed and direction are involved,
with consequent shocks, vibration and destructive eddies. Furthermore, the
introduction of pistons, blades, buckets, and intercepting devices of this
general class, into the path of the fluid involves much delicate and difficult
mechanical construction which adds greatly to the cost both of production and
maintenance.
The
desiderata in an ideal turbine group themselves under the heads of the
theoretical and the mechanical. The theoretically perfect turbine would be one
in which the fluid was so controlled from the inlet to the exhaust that its
energy was delivered to the driving shaft with the least possible losses due to
the mechanical means employed. The mechanically perfect turbine would be one which
combined simplicity and cheapness of construction, durability, ease and
rapidity of repairs, and a small ratio of weight and space occupied to the
power delivered on the shaft. Mr. Tesla maintains that in the turbine which
forms the subject of this article, he has carried the steam and gas motor a
long step forward toward the maximum attainable efficiency, both theoretical
and mechanical. That these claims are well founded is shown by the fact that in
the plant at the Edison station, he is securing an output of 200
horse-power from a single-stage steam turbine with atmospheric exhaust,
weighing less than 2 pounds per horse-power, which is contained within a space
measuring 2 feet by 3 feet, by 2 feet in height, and which accomplishes these
results with a thermal fall of only 130 B.T.U., that is, about one-third of the
total drop available. Furthermore, considered from the mechanical standpoint,
the turbine is astonishingly simple and economical in construction, and by the
very nature of its construction, should prove to possess such a durability and
freedom from wear and breakdown as to place it, in these respects, far in
advance of any type of steam or gas motor of the present day.
Briefly
stated, Tesla's steam motor consists of a set of flat steel disks mounted on a
shaft and rotating within a casing, the steam entering with high velocity at
the periphery of the disks, flowing between them in free spiral paths, and
finally escaping through exhaust ports at their center. Instead of developing
the energy of the steam by pressure, reaction, or impact, on a series of blades
or vanes, Tesla depends upon the fluid properties of adhesion and
viscosity--the attraction of the steam to the faces of the disks and the
resistance of its particles to molecular separation combining in transmitting
the velocity energy of the motive fluid to the plates and the shaft.
By
reference to the accompanying photographs and line drawings, it will be seen
that the turbine has a rotor A which in the present case consists of 25 flat steel
disks, one thirty-second of an inch in thickness, of hardened and carefully
tempered steel. The rotor as assembled is 3 1/2 inches wide on the face, by 18
inches in diameter, and when the turbine is running at its maximum working
velocity, the material is never under a tensile stress exceeding 50,000 pounds
per square inch. The rotor is mounted in a casing D, which is provided with two
inlet nozzles, B for use in running direct and B' for reversing. Openings C are
cut out at the central portion of the disks and these communicate directly with
exhaust ports formed in the side of the casing.
In
operation, the steam, or gas, as the case may be is directed on the periphery
of the disks through the nozzle B (which may be diverging, straight or
converging), where more or less of its expansive energy is converted into
velocity energy. When the machine is at rest, the radial and tangential forces
due to the pressure and velocity of the steam cause it to travel in a rather
short curved path toward the central exhaust opening, as indicated by the full
black line in the accompanying diagram; but as the disks commence to rotate and
their speed increases, the steam travels in spiral paths the length of which
increases until, as in the case of the present turbine, the particles of the
fluid complete a number of turns around the shaft before reaching the exhaust,
covering in the meantime a lineal path some 12 to 16 feet in length. During its
progress from inlet to exhaust, the velocity and pressure of the steam are reduced
until it leaves the exhaust at 1 or 2 pounds gage pressure.
The
resistance to the passage of the steam or gas between adjoining plates is
approximately proportionate to the square of the relative speed, which is at a
maximum toward the center of the disks and is equal to the tangential velocity
of the steam. Hence the resistance to radial escape is very great, being
furthermore enhanced by the centrifugal force acting outwardly. One of the most
desirable elements in a perfected turbine is that of reversibility, and we are
all familiar with the many and frequently cumbersome means which have been
employed to secure this end. It will be seen that this turbine is admirably
adapted for reversing, since this effect can be secured by merely closing the
right-hand valve and opening that on the left.
It
is evident that the principles of this turbine are equally applicable, by
slight modifications of design, for its use as a pump, and we present a
photograph of a demonstration model which is in operation in Mr. Tesla's
office. This little pump, driven by an electric motor of 1/12 horse-power,
delivers 40 gallons per minute against a head of 9 feet. The discharge pipe
leads up to a horizontal tube provided with a wire mesh for screening the water
and checking the eddies. The water falls through a slot in the bottom of this
tube and after passing below a baffle plate flows in a steady stream about 3/4
inch thick by 18 inches in width, to a trough from which it returns to the
pump. Pumps of this character show an efficiency favorably comparing with that
of centrifugal pumps and they have the advantage that great heads are
obtainable economically in a single stage. The runner is mounted in a two-part
volute casing and except for the fact that the place of the buckets, vanes,
etc., of the ordinary centrifugal pump is taken by a set of disks, the
construction is generally similar to that of pumps of the standard kind.
In
conclusion, it should be noted that although the experimental plant at the
Waterside station develops 200 horse-power with 125 pounds at the supply pipe
and free exhaust, it could show an output of 300 horse-power with the full
pressure of the Edison supply circuit. Furthermore, Mr. Tesla states that if it
were compounded and the exhaust were led to a low pressure unit, carrying about
three times the number of disks contained in the high pressure element, with
connection to a condenser affording 28 1/2 to 29 inches of vacuum, the results
obtained in the present high-pressure machine indicate that the compound unit
would give an output of 600 horse-power, without great increase of dimensions.
This estimate is conservative.
The
testing plant consists of two identical turbines connected by a carefully
calibrated torsion spring, the machine to the left being the driving element,
the other the brake. In the brake element, the steam is delivered to the blades
in a direction opposite to that of the rotation of the disks. Fastened to the
shaft of the brake turbine is a hollow pulley provided with two diametrically
opposite narrow slots, and an incandescent lamp placed inside close to the rim.
As the pulley rotates, two flashes of light pass out of the same, and by means
of reflecting mirrors and lenses, they are carried around the plant and fall
upon two rotating glass mirrors placed back to back on the shaft of the driving
turbine so that the center line of the silver coatings coincides with the axis
of the shaft. The mirrors are so set that when there is no torsion on the
spring, the light beams produce a luminous spot stationary at the zero of the
scale. But as soon as load is put on, the beam is deflected through an angle
which indicates directly the torsion. The scale and spring are so proportioned
and adjusted that the horse-power can be read directly from the deflections
noted. The indications of this device are very accurate and have shown that
when the turbine is running at 9,000 revolutions under an inlet pressure of 125
pounds to the square inch, and with free exhaust, 200 brake horse-power are
developed. The consumption under these conditions of maximum output is 38
pounds of saturated steam per horse-power per hour - a very high efficiency
when we consider that the heat-drop, measured by thermometers, is only 130
B.T.U., and that the energy transformation is effected in one stage. Since
about three times this number of heat units are available in a modern plant
with super-heat and high vacuum, the above means a consumption of less than 12
pounds per horse-power hour in such turbines adapted to take up the full drop.
Under certain conditions, however, very high thermal efficiencies have been
obtained which demonstrate that in large machines based on this principle, in
which a very small slip can be secured, the steam consumption will be much
lower and should, Mr. Tesla states, approximate the theoretical minimum, thus
resulting in nearly frictionless turbine transmitting almost the entire
expansive energy of the steam to the shaft.
Journey
back to the future and discover the fascinating secret behind the most powerful
and economic internal or external combustion engine of all time: Tesla's
Bladeless Boundary-Layer Turbine. You will experience the excitement of
understanding as Tesla's mechanical breakthrough is explored, shattering the
boundaries of our current mechanical standard. You will be swept into the
awareness of discovery as the simplicity of this whirl wind machine of natural
harmony is revealed. Unveiled here today how it is possible to convert the
normally undesired energy of drag into the tremendous vortex energy of Tesla's
perfectly controlled mechanical tornado. The real answer to energy.
The
history of Tesla's monarch of machines is then followed into the present day
work of researchers and inventors C.R. "Jake" Possell [1]. and Frank
Germano (President of International Turbine And Power, LLC)[2]. You will learn
how modern day applications of the bladeless turbine could improve all aspects
of our mechanical life. Today's applications range from indestructible pumps
and Freon free air conditioning to speed boats and supersonic aircraft.
Conventional
pumps and engines pale in comparison. This jewel of mechanics has no equal. It
stands alone above all others. No other pump or engine can match the longevity,
economy, size, safety, silence and vibration free Herculean power of this truly
elegant machine. It waits patiently to solve the efficiency and pollution
problems of today and could literally usher in A NEW WORLD. Fully Illustrated
[1] Mr. C. R. "Jake" Possell Is President of a
Public Company - QUADRATECH, Inc., 1417 South Gage Street, San Bernardino, CA
92408
[2] Mr. Frank Germano is President of a Private Company -
International Turbine And Power, LLC, 931 Rumsey Avenue, Cody, Wyoming 82414,
and Founder and CEO of Global Energy Technologies, Inc., 11th Street, Blakely,
PA 18447.
[3] BOUNDARY-LAYER BREAKTHROUGH - THE BLADELESS TESLA
TURBINE Volume II. The Tesla Technology Series, ISBN 1-882137-01-9
From http://www.frankgermano.net//teslaturbine.htm and http://www.frankgermano.net/teslaturbine2.htm
For more information about Tesla technology see http://nexusilluminati.blogspot.com/search/label/tesla
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