Nikola Tesla considered this bladeless turbine his greatest gift to humanity. i cant say I really understood that until I saw it generating electricity from waterpipes heated by solar reflectors. This thing runs off of compressed air, steam, any liquid or combusted material.
here it is in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7nFga2BpGU
Full Version: The Tesla Turbine - His "greatest Gift To Humanity"
It's a nice piece of work, but I'm confused. I think I must be missing something. Is the purpose of this device solely concerned with converting energy in the form of compressed air into electrical energy? If it is, my intuition says it's not terribly efficient because of all the wasted air that comes out of the other side. I noticed one of the viewer comments said that in the original Tesla Turbine, the air did not escape from the side, which was interesting, but again, raised questions. I'm not really sure how this differs much from, say, a conventional wind turbine. Any chance you could elaborate?
In terms of your own experience of this technology, I'd like to hear more about that too. I am somewhat familiar with the amazing results solar panels can achieve in terms of heating water etc. My neighbour heats his swimming pool using an extended array of piping rather like a radiator and pumps the water around using a pump powered by solar panels. He has to buy chemical additives to keep it all clean but the system itself is entirely self contained and costs nothing to run apart from that and the set-up cost.
Off topic a bit, but I'd love to own and rebuild a water mill some day, with the focus on electricity production rather than milling. Why on Earth did we let so many of those wonderful machines go to waste?
In terms of your own experience of this technology, I'd like to hear more about that too. I am somewhat familiar with the amazing results solar panels can achieve in terms of heating water etc. My neighbour heats his swimming pool using an extended array of piping rather like a radiator and pumps the water around using a pump powered by solar panels. He has to buy chemical additives to keep it all clean but the system itself is entirely self contained and costs nothing to run apart from that and the set-up cost.
Off topic a bit, but I'd love to own and rebuild a water mill some day, with the focus on electricity production rather than milling. Why on Earth did we let so many of those wonderful machines go to waste?
QUOTE (Entropiate @ 05-October-2007 12:53) 
It's a nice piece of work, but I'm confused. I think I must be missing something. Is the purpose of this device solely concerned with converting energy in the form of compressed air into electrical energy? If it is, my intuition says it's not terribly efficient because of all the wasted air that comes out of the other side. I noticed one of the viewer comments said that in the original Tesla Turbine, the air did not escape from the side, which was interesting, but again, raised questions. I'm not really sure how this differs much from, say, a conventional wind turbine. Any chance you could elaborate?
In terms of your own experience of this technology, I'd like to hear more about that too. I am somewhat familiar with the amazing results solar panels can achieve in terms of heating water etc. My neighbour heats his swimming pool using an extended array of piping rather like a radiator and pumps the water around using a pump powered by solar panels. He has to buy chemical additives to keep it all clean but the system itself is entirely self contained and costs nothing to run apart from that and the set-up cost.
Off topic a bit, but I'd love to own and rebuild a water mill some day, with the focus on electricity production rather than milling. Why on Earth did we let so many of those wonderful machines go to waste?
In terms of your own experience of this technology, I'd like to hear more about that too. I am somewhat familiar with the amazing results solar panels can achieve in terms of heating water etc. My neighbour heats his swimming pool using an extended array of piping rather like a radiator and pumps the water around using a pump powered by solar panels. He has to buy chemical additives to keep it all clean but the system itself is entirely self contained and costs nothing to run apart from that and the set-up cost.
Off topic a bit, but I'd love to own and rebuild a water mill some day, with the focus on electricity production rather than milling. Why on Earth did we let so many of those wonderful machines go to waste?
well apparently they get 60 to 95% efficiency. i have not had the opportunity to work with these myself sadly, but would like to soon. wikipedia has a pretty good article on them, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_turbine
an excerpt: Tesla wrote 'This turbine is an efficient self-starting prime mover which may be operated as a steam or mixed fluid turbine at will, without changes in construction and is on this account very convenient. Minor departures from the turbine, as may be dictated by the circumstances in each case, will obviously suggest themselves but if it is carried out on these general lines it will be found highly profitable to the owners of the steam plant while permitting the use of their old installation. However, the best economic results in the development of power from steam by the Tesla turbine will be obtained in plants especially adapted for the purpose. '
Right, thanks. So it's essentially the FLEXIBILITY of the design that's the key point, rather than the efficiency, ie it can be used with water, steam, compressed air or just about anything offering pressure - as long as it's clean enough not to clog up the pump too quick I guess. Cool.
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