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BOUNDARY-LAYER BREAKTHROUGH - THE TESLA BLADELESS TURBINE
Compiled by Jeffery A. Hayes
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 altho 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.
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Scientific American September 30, 1911, page 290
From the Complex to the Simple
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 practicle 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.
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Scientific American September 30, 1911, page 296
The Rotary Heat Motor Reduced to its Simplest Terms
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.
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Page 79
AUTOMOBILE COOLING SYSTEM PUMP
These are photographs of a four inch diameter water pump. It is
specifically designed to pump cooling water for internal combustion
engines of all sizes and types. It has an inch and a quarter inlet
and a one inch outlet. It will pump approximately 1,000 gallons of
water per hour at 12 PSI. It is driven by a flat pancake type D. C.
motor that is only 1?2" thick. It's power requirement is 100 watts.
The pump itself is fabricated from 6061 aluminum, hard anodized,
which is equivalent to a type of stainless steel that is capable of
going through a 200 hour salt spray test. The bladeless pump can
pump boiling water without cavitation without loosing its prime.
Conventional pumps cannot pump boiling water, leading to engine
damage if the cooling system does reach the boiling point. This
will allow a new type of cooling system for automobiles that will
replace the belt driven water pump. The electric motor that drives
this pump will not operate when the temperature engine indicates
that it is not required. The pump will only operate when it is
needed. The operating temperature can easily be adjusted in the
field from 180 degrees to 200 degrees without having to replace a
mechanical thermostat as is the normal procedure.
The conventional lifting surface centrifugal pump that is normally
used requires from 6 to 10 HP to drive it off a belt. The new
bladeless pump will operate only when needed and then consumes less
than one HP. Another example of reduction of parasitic horse-power.
This pump is currently available for commercial sale and has been
fully tested.
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BOUNDARY-LAYER BREAKTHROUGH - THE TESLA BLADELESS TURBINE
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 researcher and inventer C.R. "Jake" Possell [1].
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.
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[1] Mr. C. R. "Jake" Possell Is President of a Public Company called
QUADRATECH, Inc., 1417 South Gage Street, San Bernardino, CA 92408
BOUNDARY-LAYER BREAKTHROUGH - THE BLADELESS TESLA TURBINE
Volume II. The Tesla Technology Series,
ISBN 1-882137-01-9
-- Fully illustrated --
To order send $19.95 US plus $2.50 (US); $3.50 (Canada); and
$6.75 (Elsewhere) for Shipping and Handling, to:
Gary L. Peterson
P. O. Box 2001
Breckenridge, CO 80424
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