Tesla Turbine Analysis and Design

This solved assignment delves into the analysis and design of Tesla turbines. It explores various aspects, including their efficiency, impact on Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) systems, and geometrical influences on performance. Students will find insights from different research papers on Tesla turbine applications, designs, and computational analyses. The assignment emphasizes understanding the principles behind Tesla turbine operation and its potential in power generation.

ASSESSMENT 3: INDIVIDUAL PROJECT PROPOSAL
FORMAT AND PERCENTAGE RUBRIC
Executive Summary:
The purpose of this paper is to put emphasis on the Tesla turbine, which and been
discovered and patented by Nikola Tesla in the year 1913. This can be described as
the bladeless centripetal flow turbine with higher efficiency than gas turbine or any
other engine or machine. It is being referred as the bladeless turbine because in this
machine, fluid is being used in the place of the blades in manner to provide motion
to the discs installed within the device. Boundary layer effect is being used within
the system in the place of the fluid that is impinging over the blades to make the
blades moving. It is also being called as the boundary layer turbine, prandtl layer
turbine, and cohesion type turbine. It is being referred by many researchers as the
multiple disk centrifugal pumps. This paper produces the whole working of the
engine or the machine presented. In this report items those have been used as the
input are referred as the fuel as in engineering language every supply that is being
used to generate energy or transferred from one energy ton other is represented as
the fuel. This report presents how different moving parts of the machine can affect
the overall efficiency of the machine and how it can be used in beneficial manner.
Certain gaps were identified in the execution of the project that includes the
configuration of the disks relating to its diameter, spacing, and number in the rotor
part. There are various sub parts in the device that could result in the deficiency of
the turbine. The project is a description of how we could achieve maximum
efficiency through eliminating blades in a turbine engine and using fluid and its
properties for the exchange of energy.
Topic
“Tesla turbine as the replacement for current turbine models”
Objective
The main purpose objective of this project proposal is to present a new turbine
which is much efficient that any other turbine engines in the real world. This is an
attempt to present a model of the turbine which could be applicable for 100%

efficiency in the system.
Questions
1. This project proposal will be evaluating following questions?
2. Is there any turbine that could be used without blades?
3. Is the turbine could be applicable for achieving approximately 100%
efficiency?
Aim
The aim behind this project proposal is to introduce a bladeless turbine engine that
would be capable of reaching efficiency up to 100% (or more than 95%).
Sub goals
Eliminate the factor of blade that could result in deficiency for the whole
arrangement and replace it with fluid mechanism for providing motion to the disks.
Hypothesis
Tesla’s principle could be used for the development of an efficient turbine engine
in manner to enhance the productivity and performance of the organization.
Introduction:
An engine can be represented as a machine that consumes fuels and convert it into
mechanical energy. Despite of types of natural resources such as coal, air, water,
petroleum, or any other source that could be used to produce energy can be
represented as fuel (Manfrida, Pacini & Talluri 2017). At the beginning of the
technology era, two types engines were introduced for the social use namely,
bladed turbines and piston engines. Bladed turbines were driven by steam that has
been generated through heating water or through moving water speed whereas;
piston engines were driven by the combustion of gasoline and using the pressure of
the gas exhausting (Yost 2015). Both the engines were complicated and time
consuming in designing and developing for the application.

A machine is composed of various moving parts and similarly turbine is composed
of piston, valves, bearings, rings, cams, and gaskets. Combining so many
components will alternatively affect the efficiency of the whole machine. This
increases the possibilities of less efficiency in the project however, emphasizing on
the efficiency of each components particularly could also result in the overall
efficiency of the device. Tesla new engine is composed of bladeless turbines that
could use fuel as the energy for being driven and will convert the fluid energy into
mechanical energy with much higher efficiency.
Literature Review:
Gupta and Khodali (2013) presented their concern on the related topic and
presented a paper on the designing and operations of the turbo machines that is
based on the same principle of using fluid for the mechanism of energy conversion.
It is being reported in the paper that turbo-machines are the devices those are
helpful in transferring the energy between the fluid and the rotor including the
compressors and the stators (Alrabie et al. 2017). The function of the energy
transfer includes the transfer of energy to the rotor from the fluid and followed by
this, the compressor transfers the energy to the fluid from the rotor. There are
various other designs of turbo-machines that could be applicable for the efficient
use of the machines and among them Tesla turbine is the one with highest
efficiency rate (Song & Gu 2017). The Tesla turbine uses viscous and adhesion
force of the fluid (property of the fluid that sates force of attraction between the
molecules) in manner to transfer energy. This machine is all about the boundary
layer effect that has been discussed in the below report that allows the disks to get
energy transferred by the fluid. Traum, Hadi and Akbar (2017) stated that there is
very wide range of the application of Tesla turbines that includes any type of
mixing of gas, liquid and solid without making damage to the machine. Another
application is that it could be designed in manner to pump both the high viscous
and low viscous fluid with less effort and much efficiency (Zahid et al. 2016).
There have various practices practiced using this principle that includes pumping
the fluids like live fish, fly ash, ethylene glycol, blood, rocks, and many other
substances. Pandey et al. (2014) stated that various researchers have presented
various researches after the patent presented by Tesla in 1913 that were
continuously attempting to effectively apply and improve the configuration of the
Tesla turbines in manner to get much efficient machine. There are certain factors

that might affect the proper functioning and efficiency of the Tesla machines
including number of the disks used in the rotor, their width, gap between two
consecutive disks, jet angle at the inlet including its pressure and many more
(Schosser et al. 2015). Holland (2016) stated that Tesla turbines basically
functions on two basic principles of the fluids that include Viscosity, Adhesion that
are responsible for the mechanism of the conventional energy transfer in tradition
turbines (Sharma 2016). Using these principles could be helpful in eliminating the
blades that will alternatively presents an efficient output for the machine (Suha &
Sengupta 2013). Various name has been provided to this machine because of its
multi application and principle those have been stated in the below paragraph. The
most crucial objective for the Tesla turbines can be referred to the unavailability of
friction within the conventional senses (Nelkel and Godinho 2015). The turbo-
machinery based on Tesla principles are not capable of proving competitive in an
application that could be applicable in wide range of different machines have
adequate performance and efficiency of the machines. Despite of all the
advantages there are certain disadvantages of the application of Tesla turbine and
could be stated as: the machine provides a low rotor torque (Hasan & Banzamia
2014). Another disadvantage is that it can be stated as not suitable for the direct
exchange for the traditional pumps and turbines without changing the
infrastructure suited for the machine it is interacting with (Suha & Sengupta 2017).
The machine has remained undeveloped from since 1913 when Tesla had
introduced the facts, but the designs are still being improvised by various
researchers till this date (Sivaramakrishnan 2017). The proofs related to the
efficiency in comparison with the conventional turbines also needs certain more
researches it is still questionable for the regular practice in the real life.
Research Goals:
The aim of this experiment is to establish relation between the efficiency of the
turbine considering various objectives. These objectives include distance between
the turbine disks including the diameter and number of the disks of the turbine.
Efficiency of the turbine is related to the efficiency of each objective including the
rotational speed, inlet temperature, pressure, angle, and velocity. For achieving the
main objective of the project it is necessary to enhance the efficiency of the stator
and rotor part.

Theory:
Figure 1: Fluid path of the Tesla turbine
(Source: howstuffWorks, 2017)
Talking about the principle of working, it can be said that fluids have properties
like viscosity and adhesion that could be used in transforming energy with much
efficiency. These properties are being used in the project of the Tesla turbine in
manner to allow the fluid to be transferred from the rotor to the fluid or vice versa.
Firstly, it can be stated that as the fluid keep on passing each disks, the property of
the fluid (adhesive) results the forces of the molecules of the fluids above the
surface of the metal in manner to stick and slow down (Bhambal, Sapate & Sase
2017). Secondly, the molecules of the fluids sticking to the surface of the metal get
slowed while colliding with the molecules passing over the surface. Thirdly it can
be stated that molecules in result slow down the fluids those are flowing just above
them. The fluid’s molecules flowing farther are least affected by the adhesion force
of the molecules spread over the disks (Tsoukpoe et al. 2016). In that same
moment, another property (viscous) of the fluid works as the resistance and avoid
the fluids from getting separated. This whole process result in the generation of the
‘pull’ force which has been transmitted to the disk, that results the disk in manner
to move in the same direction as the fluids are moving.

Fluid’s layer that is interacting with the surface of the disk during this process is
called boundary layer. This interaction of the solid surface and molecules of the
fluid is described as the boundary layer effect (Song, Gu & Li 2017). Because of
the boundary layer effect, it can be stated that propelling fluid follows behind the
rapid accelerated spiral path alongside the faces of the disks till the fluids reaches a
proper exit gate (Fuchs et al. 2015). Based on the theory it can be stated that if
these processes are practiced accurately the efficiency of the rotor will be much
effective and estimated to be almost 95% or even more.
Set-up:
There are mainly two components of Tesla turbine that includes rotor and stator.
Rotor consist of moving parts with a series of discs mounted over the shaft and
each shaft has been made with the openings those have been surrounding the shaft.
As shown in figure washers have been used as spacers between the disk and the air
resistance and the washer’s thickness has been restricted to 2 to 3 millimeters.
Figure 2: Working of Tesla Turbine
(Source: howstuffWorks, 2017)
Another component of the Tesla turbine is the stator that is a stationary part shaped
in a hollow cylinder, comprised of the rotor. Both the ends of the stator have
implemented bearing for the shafts in manner to provide frictionless working for
the shafts. The nozzles have been inserted within the one or two inlets of the stator
that will be helpful for the smoothly moving of the shaft either in anti-clockwise or

clockwise manner. In manner to allow the turbine efficiently work and maintain
the temperature due to the friction, a high pressure fluid has been entering through
the nozzles at the inlets of the stators. The fluid movement passes through the disks
and enables the rotor disks to move in either manner. Finally, at the last stage, the
fluid exits the system through the exhaust ports that has been situated at the centre
of the turbine.
Result:
It is being estimated that “the turbine efficiency of the gas Tesla turbine is
estimated to be above 60, reaching a maximum of 95 percent”. It is a considerable
fact that the cycle efficiency of a turbine is completely different from the turbine
efficiency of the engine in which turbine is being used. In this new technology
world, jet engines or steam plants are being operated on the turbine engines is
about to be estimated to the value of 60% to 70% efficiency. It is a complete
different topic from the cycle efficiency of the engines, which have been reported
to be 25% and 42%. These values are “limited by any irreversibility to be below
the Carnot cycle efficiency.” Tesla has put his claim that the steam version of the
device presented by him would be cap[able of achieving 95 percent efficiency. The
apparatus and the methods proposed by Tesla for the thermodynamic
transformation and propulsion of the fluids including the energy had been exposed
in various patents. The efficiency of the thermodynamic can be represented as the
measurement of the performance that has been compared to the isentropic case. It
is nothing but the ratio of the input with the output considering the ideal behavior
of the engine to the actual behavior responding after the completion of the project.
“This can be taken to be the ratio of the ideal change in enthalpy to the real
enthalpy for the same change in pressure.”
Planning:
Task Name Duration Start Finish
Tesla turbine 214 days Mon 10/30/17 Thu 8/23/18
Project planning and initiation 35 days Mon 10/30/17 Fri 12/15/17
requirement identification 7 days Mon 10/30/17 Tue 11/7/17
preparing requirement draft 7 days Wed 11/8/17 Thu 11/16/17
Research scope analysis 7 days Fri 11/17/17 Mon 11/27/17

Research objective analysis 7 days Tue 11/28/17 Wed 12/6/17
Developing research
questions 7 days Thu 12/7/17 Fri 12/15/17
theoretical summary 50 days Mon 12/18/17 Fri 2/23/18
literature review 15 days Mon 12/18/17 Fri 1/5/18
Data collection 10 days Mon 1/8/18 Fri 1/19/18
data analysis 10 days Mon 1/22/18 Fri 2/2/18
summarizing data related to
the topic 15 days Mon 2/5/18 Fri 2/23/18
practical execution 62 days Mon 2/26/18 Tue 5/22/18
setting lab for the
experiment 20 days Mon 2/26/18 Fri 3/23/18
collecting parts of the stator
and rotor 15 days Mon 3/26/18 Fri 4/13/18
data collection for the
efficiency of each component 19 days Mon 4/16/18 Thu 5/10/18
collecting overall efficiency 8 days Fri 5/11/18 Tue 5/22/18
Comparing efficiency final 57 days Wed 5/23/18 Thu 8/9/18
initiating efficiency
comparison with other machines 17 days Wed 5/23/18 Thu 6/14/18
Cross-checking all the
findings 30 days Fri 6/15/18 Thu 7/26/18
Finalizing both data 10 days Fri 7/27/18 Thu 8/9/18
Project closure 10 days Fri 8/10/18 Thu 8/23/18
comparing experimented
data and theoretical data 5 days Fri 8/10/18 Thu 8/16/18
documentation 5 days Fri 8/17/18 Thu 8/23/18

Figure 1: Gannt Chart of the project
(Source: Created by Author)
Conclusion:
Based on the above theories and experiments, it can be concluded that Tesla had
introduced the most efficient turbine engine. This could be much effective machine
with respect to any machine that is being operated on different fuel and with
blades. The rotational speed is also affected by the blades and could result in less
efficiency and as the proposed project presents the turbine without blade. This
results in increasing the rate of efficiency of the turbine and produces or transforms
much efficient energy that could be increased up to 95 percent. There were certain
research gaps in the turbine related to the width and thickness of the discs installed
within the rotor. Those have revealed in less efficiency for the machine that could
be problem, this research’s disks were limited to 2 to 3 millimeters thickness.
Various attempts with different configuration had been attempted earlier that
resulted in deficiency in the machine however; the configuration presented in this
report can be reported as the best approach for having most efficient turbine
engine. Presented machine is capable of delivering highest efficient output as the
efficiency those were being defined by the blades was completely eliminated. This

is a successful project however, using uncertain fuel or fluid could result in the
failure of the machine.

Referencing:
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Self Review Questions for each paragraph: What is the main topic of this
paragraph? How does this paragraph function in the argument/arrangement of the
paper? How is this paragraph connected to the one above? How is this paragraph

connected to the one below? 1. Main Topic: Application of humidified air into a
Tesla Turbine. Learning.
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