Search results

Thanks for the clarification :) I'm now seriously considering doing what I previously said I didn't want to do, that being to build a small hydraulic pump from scratch. I really don't want to take the time I know will be needed, likely several weeks to several months,...but I'm also extremely...

I'm not member of ASME and therefore cannot access the linked article :-( As to how Tesla turbines work: The transfer of steam's momentum energy into Tesla discs is accomplished entirely due to boundary layer effect. Remember your high school chemistry or physics class on the topic of adhesive...

Here's a quote from this linked Scientific American article: "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...

I will look for those papers, but for now; I didn't mean to imply that a Tesla turbine acted in any way like a reaction turbine, as it doesn't. What I'm trying to convey is that steam continues to expand as it flows through and between the discs of a Tesla turbine,... expansion which results in...

I've read several papers explaining how steam continues to expand between Tesla discs as it spirals inwards through the discs; this expansion results in additional steam momentum being produced long after the steam has exited the nozzle. Consider the length of a typical industrial multi-stage...

You've seen the video I posted showing my turbine directly driving a water pump,... my turbine is already running on compressed air :cool:. The design is primarily an impulse turbine which directs the mostly spent steam inwards, where the steam is allowed to continue to expand and hopefully...

Yes, I'm familiar with reservoirs (aka accumulator), they're similar in function to the air pressure accumulator/oil separator I use on my swash plate air compressor for the venturi effect fuel nozzle. As you alluded to, I believe they work best when the in-out orifice is sized to smooth a...

Interesting theory,...I've not read any data on this condition. Examining the relative motion between spinning disc and super sonic gas flow; yes, the disc is spinning away from the gas flow, but the disc is still in a fixed position relative to the gas flow. There's an argument to made that...

No matter what shape you make the edge of a Tesla Turbine disc, rounded, flat, or knife-edge sharp, if steam flow is above Mach 1, shock waves will form on both sides of the disc and act to reduce steam flow between the discs. However, it's my understanding that gases exiting a divergent...

I finally got around to taking a few pics of the current boiler plumping. First up is the cordless Pressure Washer pump & motor. Below shows input plumbing in foreground with the air blower for the burner in the background. Below shows steam out plumbing from the boiler. Notice the same...

I finished plumbing in the tiny pressure washer pump and ran a few initial tests. I'm being very cautious because I don't want to burn out the tiny motor, which is rated for 18 vdc, and I'm giving it twice that (36 vdc) via a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) motor driver. With the PWM set to 30% ...

Slits instead of individual holes for the nozzle have been used in some designs, and quite likely produce a more useful steam flow shape,...but for this first prototype, drilled holes were much easier to machine. A long slit of the same width as the diameter of the current holes would result in...

The turbine does pump a tiny bit of air even through the nozzles, when turned by the spindle motor. But I'm not sure removing the nozzles will work. The top of each brass nozzle assembly is sealed with an O-ring, so if I remove the nozzles, the seal between the channels in the housing will...

In place of a drawing, just use this photo; each of the 6 brass nozzle assemblies can be rotated a full 360 degrees; of course, we're only interested in angles that have the nozzles pointed towards the discs. Although this design prevents a perfectly tangent line on the discs from the center...

In order to get a better idea of power output from my Tesla-Impulse turbine, I assembled a new adapter which replaces the centrifugal pump, and connects the turbine through a coupler to a smallish 500 Watt spindle motor. The motor is rated for 48 vdc at 12,000 rpm, which I expect the turbine...

The photo of all the discs mounted together can be a bit misleading; what may appear as a solid bar, is actually all the tiny flat plate blades lined up. The pic below shows a single disk. (My apologies for the poor image quality.) In this photo, I flipped a few discs to intentionally alter...

Divergent Nozzle; old on the bottom and newly drilled out holes on top.

I've been reading that the efficiency of a De Laval turbine is roughly 85 to 90%; of course, that's design efficiency which is seldom, if ever, achieved. Still, being able to extract even 80% of the energy contained in steam in only a single turbine stage is quite an achievement.

I'm guessing the first sign of failure will be reduced pressure and flow rate at all RPMs ? Or, leaks around the seams between pump-body parts that are screwed together ?

Doesn't this depend on the type of plastic used, and it's CST (Continuous Service Temperature) ? Per this CST list, most plastics have a CST above 100 C, only a few are rated below 100 C. Since I have no way to find out which plastics are used to make this pump, seems testing at increasing...