Tesla turbine/blower info needed 1

[Kimmoa]

Hey you all and greetings from a newbie on the list.

I need a medium pressure blower (500-700 Pa) with relatively low volume flow (20-30 cubic meters / hour) and haven't yet found that from any supplier that have agents in Finland. I heard about the Tesla blower / turbine and got interested. That's a design that we could perhaps manufacture my ourselves. Anyway, all the information I found about the design from the internet is historical, with no technical details. Does anyone here know about the design practises of this type of blower ? Any web links etc. ?

Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks !

Kimmo Ahola

 

[JStephen]

What I remember reading from long ago...was that all the information talked about power output or speed, but never efficiency, and evidently that was the downfall. Unfortunately, anything with Tesla's name on it is subject to wild exagerations at times.

 

[metman]

With such a wild mind as Tesla's, such claims might be possible. He was able to transmit power wirelessly and envisioned wireless communication in the early 20th century, etc, etc. Without Tesla, we might still be limited to DC current.

I have an inventor friend who has been toying with the Tesla turbine concept for years and will quizz him a little.

 

[JStephen]

I suspect any claims of significant transmission of power wirelessly are just so much horse hockey. Yes, Tesla invented some neat stuff. That doesn't mean everything that he did or claimed to do was of the same caliber, though.

There's no patent on the Tesla turbine; anyone that wants to, anywhere in the world, can make the things for whatever reason they want. The fact that nobody does should be pretty informative.

As I mentioned above, I recall reading claims of high power output for its size. Which is pretty meaningless for a steam turbine, seeing as how you have a huge boiler. Anyway, no mention is made of efficiency, which leads me to suppose that the thing was simply inefficient. You can get a lot of power out of a paddlewheel if you blow enough steam at it, but that doesn't make it a great way to produce power.

I don't recall reading anything about the thing used as a blower, where it seems to me it would be much less efficient than as a power plant.

 

[ornerynorsk]

The tesla turbine is viable for any fluid medium. Nobody is making them commercially as far as I know. You can build one quite easily, and they are quite efficient at low pressures. You can find plans for a simplified model through Gingery publishing. Try an Ebay search for "tesla turbine". I've got the book already, and it looks pretty decent. Good luck!

 

[unclesyd]

The principle works in reverse with pumps and solid disk hot water heaters.

Some good pictures and descriptions.

http://www.frank.germano.com/index.htm

A batch of books in the turbine.

http://www.tfcbooks.com/teslafaq/q&a_031.htm

http://www.tfcbooks.com/mall/turbomac.htm

Turbine (Tesla) builders club

http://www.phoenixnavigation.com/ptbc/home.htm

 

[JStephen]

Yes, doing some more reading on the topic, the idea can be used for pumps, etc. Here are a couple of quotes to let you know what you get into with Tesla's devotees:

"It is my belief, that by combining Schauberger's theories on the "living energies" contained in water with the Tesla Turbine, a radical approach to how we obtain and distribute electrical energy will result. Non-polluting, environmentally sound, readily obtainable, virtually "free" energy, that can be distributed economically to everyone on the planet." (From the Frank Germano site above)

"The biggest problem regarding the Tesla turbine engines’ construction has been incomplete and inaccurate plans calling themselves the Tesla turbine engine. While these plans, such as those appearing in Live Steam, Popular Mechanics and elsewhere do illustrate the basic operating principle, they are missing key components critical to the proper functioning of the engine. Trying to obtain satisfactory results matching those achieved by Tesla are impossible using these heretofore compromised plans. TEBA was formed in April of 1993 to provide accurate information and assistance to those interested in building reproductions of Tesla’s engine that would perform properly." From the Tesla Engine Builder's club. IE, pay them, or your turbine won't work right. So either they're full of BS or every other source out there is. (Note that you can download patents for free, so evidently the patents don't tell you how to do it right, either.)

The ultimate test, that these people seem to overlook, is just building the thing. If it's so cheap and wonderful and efficient and simple, just build a gas-turbine in your garage using the concept, and then start selling them. Piston engines will then be rapidly obsolete, and the builder of the Tesla-powered cars will be a multi-billionaire.

 

[Warpspeed]

The Tesla turbine/blower probably does work reasonably well, probably as well or better than a centrifugal turbine/blower, but it has one major drawback for industrial use.

The close tolerances required for really high efficiency will clog up with dirt and debris fairly easily unless the medium is well filtered. For many general purpose applications that might be a fairly significant problem, as it would need total dismantling to clean properly.

 

[ornerynorsk]

Warpspeed, just a comment on your post. The tesla turbine is a beautiful design in the respect that close tolerances are, in fact, NOT required. Disk spacing in smaller models that I have seen run around 1/16 inch or so.

 

[Warpspeed]

True, but 1/16 inch is still fairly tight for dusty or corrosive applications.

 

[ChrisFBoyden]

Warpspeed,

A little research will point out that Tesla disc pumps
are great for pumping the worst kind of materials.

Make them out of the right materials and they can pump sulfuric acid.

They can pump goldfish and NOT kill them if you space the discs properly. They can also pump highly abrasive materials like sand in high Sand/H20 concentrations without tearing them up.

look up DiscFlo.

NASCAR uses Disc pumps for cooling pumps. They are a higher efficiency pump, therefore use less hp, and work better!