Preparation of measurement system for

Tesla turbine.
MSc. Eng. Julian Traciak
Rzeszow University of Technology

Introduction

Source : N. Tesla Turbine, United States Patent No. 1061206 1913

What is a Tesla turbine?

Tesla turbine is a special type of turbine, using the phenomenon of adhesion to
make the rotor to rotate. Fluid in a Tesla turbine flows in spiral path, narrowing
towards the center.
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Construction and operation of the turbine

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Construction and operation of the turbine

Turbine components

Disks,
spacers,
nozzle,
casing.

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Construction and operation of the turbine

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Laminar flow

a) Laminar flow

b) Turbulent flow

Reynolds number
Re =

ul

(1)

This number allows to estimate the ratio of active forces (inertia) to the passive
forces of internal friction in the fluid, appearing in the form of viscosity when the
fluid is in motion. The Reynolds number is used as a basic criteria for the stability
of fluid motion.

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Boundary layer

x
= 5
,
Rex
where:

Rex

- Reynolds number for actual point in fluid path x, Rex =

MSc. Eng. Julian Traciak

Preparation of measurement system for Tesla turbine.

(2)
u0 x
.
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Measurement system

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Measurement system

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Measurement results
4 0 0 0
3 5 0 0
3 0 0 0

v [rp m ]

2 5 0 0
2 0 0 0
1 5 0 0

1 .0 m m
1 .5 m m
2 .0 m m

1 0 0 0
5 0 0
0
0

2 0

4 0

6 0

8 0

1 0 0

1 2 0

1 4 0

t [s ]

This chart was developed in the Origin 8, function fitted to the data points is a
Poly5 function.

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Measurement results
4 0 0

1 .0 m m
1 .5 m m
2 .0 m m

P [W ]

3 0 0

2 0 0

1 0 0

0
0

5 0 0

1 0 0 0

1 5 0 0

2 0 0 0

2 5 0 0

3 0 0 0

3 5 0 0

4 0 0 0

v [rp m ]

This chart was developed in the Origin 8, function fitted to the data points is a
Polynomial function.

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Measurement results

4000
v [rpm]

This chart was developed in the Origin 8, function fitted to the data points is a
Exp2p function.

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Losses

Losses

Related with the tension,

related with the flow,
caused by a bad choice of the
thickness of spacers.

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Pros and cons of Tesla turbine

Advantages

Simple costruction,
reversible,
low vibration,
resistance to wet vapor and impurities,
loudness spectrum doesnt depend on the angular velocity.

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Pros and cons of Tesla turbine

Advantages

Simple costruction,
reversible,
low vibration,
resistance to wet vapor and impurities,
loudness spectrum doesnt depend on the angular velocity.

Disadvantages

Difficulties in achieving high efficiency,

with increasing diameter of the rotor angular velocity drops,
very low torque.

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Thank you for your attention.