The laboratory on Wardencliff was closed, its staff was disbanded, and the guards were removed. Even Sherf left Tesla, joining a sulfur mining company. Once a week, without much reward, he came to Tesla and made sure that his affairs did not get completely confused. Two secretaries still served with Tesla, but the correspondence with the firms ceased, and their help was not needed. Now money and any reminder of it annoyed Tesla even more. He could not stand holding them in his hands, assuring that he absolutely did not need them and agreed to completely abandon all his habits, just to be able to continue work on the creation of the "World System". If only to finish the construction of the tower, laboratory, to prove the applicability of their discoveries!
The collapse of hopes for the completion of the construction of the "World System" nevertheless forced Tesla to start developing one of the many ideas that came to him in his distant youth. Later, he returned to her again and the next morning said to Sherf:
I will soon build a small steam engine - it will be a power station that fits freely in a hat.
In 1906, Tesla created a steam turbine of an original design. At 30 horsepower, it weighed only 10 pounds. 3 horsepower per 1 pound of weight - this heating engineer did not know yet! But Tesla did not stop there and put forward the motto: "20 horsepower per 1 pound of weight." He even put it on his personal stationery.
The thought of such a car was brought to him by the memory of the time spent in the Velebit mountains, when he fantasized, preparing ideas for the future. The dream of creating a postal connection between Europe and America through a pipeline located at the bottom of the ocean with mail sending in a balloon driven by steam turned out to be unrealizable due to the friction of steam on the pipe walls. This prompted Tesla to use the friction of steam in the steam turbine he created.
In his devices, not only the expansion of steam between the blades was used, but also the frictional force of the steam. Tesla built several models and prototypes of these turbines. One of them with a capacity of 500 kilowatts at 3600 rpm with 15 discs with a diameter of 60 inches was practically tested and showed a fairly high efficiency. However, this turbine required high initial and final steam pressures and was proposed as one of the stages of a multistage plant. Thus, it can be considered that Tesla invented what is now called the "upstream" turbine, or foreshalt turbine. The use of such turbines increases the overall efficiency of the installation, and therefore they are still used today.
At the same time, Tesla developed a project for a turbine that works not by expanding water vapor, but by burning various gases in the turbine itself. Thus, the first of the possible types of gas turbines - this most progressive design of power equipment, opening up huge prospects for the use of underground coal gasification - was created by Nikola Tesla.
This whole range of issues occupied Tesla for a fairly long period - from the time of the cessation of work in Wardencliff until 1914, when the pre-war situation required a transition to work on other projects. Tesla was able to return to the development of designs for power equipment only in 1925. But during these six to eight years (1906-1914) Tesla carried out a number of serious works, received several patents and enriched heat power engineering with many new and original ideas.
The son of one of Tesla's oldest employees, Julius Chito, a mechanic at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, manufactured the first model of a steam turbine designed by Tesla in 1906, then he made them again twice in 1911 and 1925. Tesla experimented with the latest model until 1929.
Why, however, these inventions of Tesla did not find wide distribution? Firstly, because the thoughts that Tesla had at the end of the 80s of the last century and were for that time a discovery of great importance, by the beginning of the 20th century, when the steam turbines of Laval and Parsons appeared and were widely used, no longer had much values.
The second and perhaps more important reason was that Tesla's constructive talent was well below his experimental skill. In addition, Tesla, according to his character, could not and did not know how to work in a team, did not involve talented designers in joint work in order to jointly develop specific, practically applicable types of equipment that could go into production. Meanwhile, the days when a lone inventor could fruitfully develop his ideas are long gone. The rapid development of science and technology of the 20th century excluded the possibility of creating industrial structures outside the team. Tesla, looking ahead, seeing the barely outlined contours of the future in science, himself remained a typical inventor of the 80s of the last century.
However, justice requires an indication that such loneliness can partly be explained by Tesla's organic unwillingness to serve the enrichment of the monopolies, without which it was impossible to find the means to work in a large team. This was a kind of protest against the social system, which enriched a handful of tycoons hated by Tesla.
Tesla's tragedy is the tragedy of a great scientist who did not want to bow his head before the "monster of Wall Street", who did not want to become a servant of the Morgan, Rockefeller and Dupont. To create not for their enrichment, but for the people, for all mankind, for the purposes of peace, not war - this is Tesla's true aspiration.
One of Tesla's earliest memories of childhood was an attempt to create a vacuum engine capable of constant motion, which resulted in the emergence of a small, bladeless pump. The inventor remembered well how he managed to launch his model in a small river near the house. The inspiration for his latest invention, the prototypes of which he managed to make, was based precisely on that episode from his childhood.
Around 1906, Tesla invented a bladeless turbine that operated on air or steam using flat metal discs. It was able to function at a higher speed due to its plasticity and less friction, and was also able to change the direction of rotation more quickly. Tesla left aside the traditional idea that a turbine must have a solid element, which will be exposed to air or steam to propel it. Instead, he decided to use two other characteristics of substances known to physicists, but not used until then for mechanical devices - adhesion and viscosity.
The heart of the Tesla turbine is a rotor consisting of several very thin cupronickel discs mounted on a central axis. The size and number of discs depended on the specific application. Tesla experimented with different configurations. To separate the disks, washers of 2-3 mm were placed between them, tightly pressed and fixed with brass nuts. There were also holes on the discs (see Figure 1).
The assembled rotor is located inside the stator, the stationary part of the turbine, which is a cylindrical metal box. To position the rotor, the diameter of the inner chamber of the cylinder must be slightly larger than the rotor discs with a clearance of about 6 mm. Axle bearings are located on each side of the stator. The stator had one or two entrances in which the injectors were located. In the original design of Tesla there were two of them - so that the turbine could change the direction of rotation. Due to this simple arrangement, when the injectors started the flow into the stator, it passed between the rotor discs, causing them to rotate. The flow then exited through a vent in the center of the turbine (see Figure 2 on page 153).
FIG. 1 The rotor of a Tesla turbine consisted of several smooth discs with a distance of several millimeters between them. The stream should pass over the surface of the discs and then exit through the outlets.
How did it happen that the energy of the flow caused the metal disk to rotate? If the surface of the disk is smooth and there are no blades or notches on it, then logic tells us that the flow will flow along the disk without setting it in motion. The explanation lies in the properties of the substance, such as adhesion and viscosity, which we mentioned earlier. Adhesion is the ability to physically adhere different molecules together as a result of attractive forces. Viscosity is the opposite property of fluidity and depends on the friction between molecules. These two properties are combined in a Tesla turbine to transfer energy from the flow to the rotor.
As the flow passes over the disc, adhesion forces act on the molecules in direct contact with the metal and reduce their speed due to adhesion to the metal. The flow molecules immediately following the surface layer collide with adhered molecules and slow down their movement. This stops the flow layer by layer. However, the outermost layers collide less with others and are less prone to adhesion. In addition, viscosity forces simultaneously act on the molecules: they prevent the molecules from separating from each other, a traction force arises, which is transmitted to the disk, and as a result, the disk starts to move.
In mechanics, a thin layer of liquid or gas interacting with the surface of a disk is called a boundary layer, and its properties are described in the theory of a boundary layer. As a result of this effect, the flow follows a rapidly accelerating spiral path along the surface of the discs until it finds an exit. Since it moves naturally along the path of least resistance, without encountering any restrictions, obstacles, external forces from the blades and notches, a gradual change in speed and direction occurs, this gives more energy to the turbine (see Figure 3). In fact, Tesla assured that the efficiency of his turbine is 95%, that is, it significantly exceeds the potential of the then turbines. At the same time, it was not so easy to apply its turbines in practice. Tesla was unable to achieve the desired turbine efficiency.
His idea was even accepted by the US Department of Defense, although Tesla received only gratitude from him, but not money. Again he needed investment and sold licenses to build a turbine in Europe. The inventor believed that he could find enough money himself to build a turbine in his country, but the funds were still not enough.
Finally, he managed to interest a group of investors and build a prototype: a huge turbine with double-acting steam at the Waterside station, controlled by Edison's New York company. It immediately became clear that not everything was in order with this turbine - most likely due to the materials used in the manufacture. In that era, there were no alloys capable of withstanding 35,000 rpm for a long time; tremendous centrifugal force deforms the metal of the rotating discs.
FIG. 2
FIG. 3
But it is also true that Tesla was never sympathetic to the plant engineers (who argued that the turbine circuit was wrong), and the workers did not like him for the forced overhauls. Thus, Tesla was unable to carry out the required tests and improve the prototype.
Shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, he tried to convince the German Minister of the Navy, Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz (1849-1930), to develop in Germany, which has a giant industrial power, an improved prototype of his turbine. But his efforts have not borne any fruit. However, this was not the best moment for such negotiations.
Tesla turbine is a bladeless disk turbine, structurally representing a sandwich of thin discs, mounted on one axis at a short distance from each other and placed in a casing.
The principle of operation is based on the fact that the working fluid (for example, gas or liquid), getting into the turbine, due to friction, "drags" the rotor from the disks, forcing them to rotate. Further, the working fluid, having lost some of the energy, "rolls" to the rotor axis, where there are special holes through which the drain is carried out.
To build your own tesla turbines with their own hands several no longer working hard drives are required. Round aluminum plates inside, it is the perfect solution for the turbine rotor. The body of the device is made of acrylic plastic, better known to us as plexiglass.
Where do we start? To begin with, let's disassemble and take out the same plates from the hard drives that once served faithfully. I think there should be no problems with this, the only thing to consider is that in some models, not metal, but ceramic plates are used, which does not suit us in any way. After all, it will be necessary to make holes in them to drain the working fluid, and ceramics, as you understand, cannot be processed. It will just crack.
Ceramic hard disk platter cracked during processing
Having made holes, similar to those shown in the picture, we need to make spacers.
Thanks to them, the plates of which the rotor consists are at some distance from each other. The ideal distance depends on several variables, including fluid viscosity, speed, and temperature. You will find information on this here... I didn't bother and took ready-made rings from the same hard drives.
The next step is to make the shaft. It must be turned from aluminum on a lathe. The diameter of the central part, on which the rotor plates will subsequently "sit", must correspond to the diameter of the holes in them. This is about 2.48 cm.The length of the shaft is about 4.5 cm.
Also, it is necessary to carve rings from aluminum, similar to those used as spacers. They are necessary for fixing the rotor on the turbine shaft and for this purpose, they are provided with the corresponding set screws.
Having fulfilled all the above conditions, you can start assembling the rotor itself.
In my design, I used 11 aluminum discs and 10 spacer rings between them.
When assembling the "sandwich" it is important to clamp it with fixing rings so that the discs do not rotate separately from the shaft itself.
A Tesla turbine housing can be made from any suitable material, be it wood or metal. It all depends on your capabilities and needs. I used a piece of acrylic measuring 12.5 x 12.5 x 6 cm. In it, in any convenient way, we cut a hole forming a chamber for the turbine rotor.
We also make one hole for the pipe through which the working fluid will flow, and four for attaching the sides of the body.
Side panels of the same material, measuring 12.5 x 12.5 x 1.2 cm and with corresponding holes for attaching to the main camera. In the center of each such sidewall, it is necessary to make 15 mm in diameter and 7 mm in depth for the bearing recess.
Since compressed air will be used as a working fluid, I did not drill holes for the "exhaust". They are fully replaced by both bearings with clearances between the outer and inner rings.
Well, now it remains to assemble all the components into one single structure.
The turbine is almost ready.
Nikola Tesla was such a great scientist that mankind has yet to truly assess the scale of his discoveries. Most of his inventions, which are still legendary, concern the possibility of transmission over a distance. However, among the patents, and there are many more than a thousand of them, which this outstanding theoretician and experimental practitioner received, there are others concerning exclusively mechanical components of machines. One of them describes the principle of operation of an unusual design that converts the energy of a gas flow into a Tesla Turbine - this is the name of this mechanism.
Each invention must be unique, such are the modern rules for registering a patent, and such were they in 1913, when the great scientist received another copyright certificate. The originality of Tesla's invention lies in the absence of blades with which the rotor of almost any turbine is equipped. The transfer of the flow of air, or any other gas, is carried out not by direct pressure on the blades set at an angle to it, but by the movement of the boundary flow of the medium surrounding completely flat discs. The Tesla turbine uses such a property of gases as their viscosity.
All the inventions of this extraordinary man are very beautiful. The Tesla turbine is no exception. Its beauty is in simplicity, not in primitiveness, but precisely in that refined brevity, which has become the handwriting of genius. It had never occurred to anyone before to spin the disk with a gas flow directed in the same plane with it.
Of course, in order to increase the efficiency of the entire device, the number of disks should be increased and the distance between them should be reduced as much as possible, therefore the Tesla turbine is a rotor fixed on the drive shaft, consisting of many flat "plates", and the stator is a space in which it rotates with nozzles directed tangentially, that is, perpendicular to the radius of the rotor discs. This design offers a huge advantage if the direction of rotation needs to be reversed. To do this, simply switch the inlet pipe to the nozzle that was previously the outlet, and the entire turbine will begin to rotate in the reverse direction.
Another advantage is in the nature of the gas movement, it is laminar, that is, there are no vortex flows in it, to overcome which useful energy is spent, and which turbine designers struggle so stubbornly. In general, at the time when Tesla invented his turbine, engineers had many problems with materials for making blades, so he figured out how to do without them altogether.
The design also has its drawbacks. These include the low gas flow rate at which the Tesla turbine is efficient. However, this does not diminish the significance of this invention, which may suddenly be needed and become simply an irreplaceable solution to a technical problem, as it happened with other N. Tesla's patents.
Simplicity of design is an obvious quality that a Tesla turbine possesses. You can make it with your own hands, however, for this you still need considerable qualifications and high accuracy in performing all the work. After all, the quality of the disks and the small gap between them, which should be very uniform, as well as the casing with nozzles, using the simplest tools is practically impossible to perform.
An ingenious, but not recognized at the time because of the limitations of technology, Tesla's invention. A hydrodynamic turbine without blades, pistons, blades and other structural elements that disturb the medium. Regular discs are used.
To anyone it may concern:
Let it be known that I, Nikola Tesla, a US citizen residing in New York, have invented a new and useful improvement in Rotary Engines and Turbines, which I describe below.
In the practical application of mechanical energy, based on the use of fluid as an energy transfer medium, it has been observed that in order to achieve greater savings, changes in the speed and direction of movement of the fluid should be as gradual as possible. In the existing forms and devices, abrupt changes, vibrations, congestion are inevitable. In addition, hydraulic devices such as pistons, blades, oars, blades have various defects and are expensive to manufacture and maintain.
The purpose of my invention is to overcome the negative effects of the transfer and conversion of mechanical energy by means of a liquid in a more economical and simple way. I accomplished this by finding a way to move the fluid in a natural way with minimal resistance, free from disturbances that arise in the blades and blades of such devices, and a way to change the speed and direction of movement without loss, while the fluid transfers energy.
It is known that a liquid has, among others, two most important properties - viscosity and fluidity.
Because of this, there are such concepts as internal and boundary friction, manifested when a liquid moves relative to the surface in which it flows, and friction between the molecules of the liquid itself. These effects are observed in everyday life, but it seems to me that I am the first who applied them practically as a driving agent.
The principles also apply to air as a moving medium. Those. these media, if applied according to the described principle, are capable of transmitting energy.
In the attached drawings, I have reflected only the shape of the apparatus, adapted for thermodynamic energy conversion; the boundaries in which the application of the principle is most significant.
Figure: 1. Lateral section of a rotor propulsion unit, or turbine.
Figure: 2. Vertical section.
The apparatus consists of a series of flat, hard disks 13, secured to the shaft 16 by means of nuts 11 and intermediate washers 17 on the projections 12. The disks have windows 14 and spokes 15. Several such disks with windows are shown. The rotor is located in the housing 19 in bearings with seals 21 on both sides. The housing has outlet ports 20. The ends of the housing are connected by a central ring 22, bored slightly larger than the discs, and have flanges 23 and inlets 24, which accommodate nozzles 25. Radial grooves 26 and labyrinth seals 27 are installed at the ends of the rotor. The supply pipes 28 with valves 29 are connected to the flanges of the central ring; one of the valves is normally closed.
For a better understanding, consider a situation where the shaft and discs rotate clockwise. The liquid enters through the inlet ports 20 and comes into contact with the disks 13 under the action of two forces - tangential and centrifugal. The combination of these forces moves the liquid in a spiral-like manner with increasing speed until it reaches the periphery, from where it exits. This spiral, free and even movement of the fluid allows the natural flow to self-regulate.
While moving in the cavity where the rotor is located, the liquid particles make several revolutions depending on the speed of the liquid and the size of the discs. I found out that the amount of liquid pumped in this way, other things being equal, is proportional to the working surface of the rotor and its speed. Therefore, the perfection of the machine depends on its size and rotor speed. The dimensions of the disks and the intervals between them will depend on the requirements and conditions for the device. The relationship between the distances between the discs, their diameter, long path, fluid viscosity is directly proportional.
In general, the distance should be such that the total mass of liquid, before exiting, accelerates to a constant speed, almost to the speed of the periphery of the discs, under normal operating conditions, and the particles move evenly around the circumference when the outlet valve is closed.
Now consider the other way around, that pressurized fluid flows through the valve in the direction of the arrow; then the rotor will begin to rotate clockwise, and the fluid will move in a spiral manner with deceleration until it reaches holes 14 and 20, through which it will exit. If the rotor were able to rotate in bearings without friction, its outer rim would reach the maximum speed that corresponds to the moving fluid during its almost circular motion. When a load is applied to the rotor, its speed decreases, the movement of the fluid slows down, the rotation of the particles is reduced and the path is shortened.
It can be assumed with a certain accuracy that the torque is directly proportional to the square of the fluid velocity relative to the rotor and the area of \u200b\u200bthe discs, and inversely proportional to the distance between them.
The apparatus is capable of doing maximum work when the rotor speed is half the speed of the liquid, but to achieve maximum savings, the relative speed (or slip) should be as low as possible. The degree of adjustment is achieved by the size of the discs and the distance between them.
Obviously, the transmitted energy from the shaft to the other mechanism and the desired speed ratio is achieved through the selection of discs. For example, in a pump, radial or static pressure as a result of centrifugal forces is added to the tangential or dynamic pressure, which leads to an increase in the liquid column.
In a motor, on the other hand, static pressure opposing the supply pressure reduces the column pressure and the radial flow velocity towards the center. Those. in a propulsion machine, a large torque is always required, which requires an increase in disks and a decrease in the distance between them, while in a propulsion machine, in order to save, the rotational effect should be less and the speed should be higher. Other design nuances are possible, but the processes should proceed as described.
Let's assume that the motive medium enters the holes at a constant speed. In this case, the machine will operate as a rotary engine and the fluid will exit its circular motion through the central outlet. In this case, expansion takes place due to the spiral rotational movement, since inward propagation counteracts centrifugal styles and resistance to radial movement.
It is noted that the resistance to fluid movement between planes is proportional to the square of the relative velocity, which is maximum in the direction of the center and is equal to the total tangential velocity of the fluid. Now, suppose that the liquid entered the chamber not through the windows, but through a nozzle that enhances the velocity-energy ratio. When the expansion in the nozzle is completed, the liquid pressure at the periphery is small; but as the nozzle increases in diameter, the pressure increases, as does the flow. But the transition from impulse to expansive action results in small changes in nozzle velocity.
Earlier, we assumed that the supply pressure is constant, but it is clear that little will change if the pressure changes somewhat as a result of internal processes in it.
Figure 1. features when reversing are reflected. If the right valve is closed and liquid flows through the second pipe, the rotor rotates in the direction of the arrow with a dotted line, while the quality of the process does not change. The same result can be achieved in many other ways through specially designed valves, nozzles.
It is clear that the number of entrance windows along the periphery can vary, as well as other design features of the structure. All the same, the other qualitative side of the described principle should be highlighted. When the machine is idle, the centrifugal pressure against the flow of the fluid should be equal to the supply pressure. If the intake ports are larger, then small changes in speed will produce large changes in flow and thus in the length of the helical path. And since Since centrifugal forces increase in proportion to the square of the speed, then with modern materials, it is possible to increase the size of the rotor for better results.
This concept is easier to implement for large devices as well as with modern technology. Small, compact machines require high precision and close clearance.
It is clear that on this principle the designs can vary over a wide range for different purposes. In this work of mine, I described the main, fundamental aspects of the application of the principle, and I think I am the first who understood this and suggested it for useful use.
I declare:
1. The machine, driven by a liquid, consists of a body with inlet and outlet ports at the periphery and in the central part, respectively; rotor with flat planes spaced at intervals so that the liquid can flow between them in a natural spiral flow, and through the properties of viscosity and fluidity transfer the rotational energy to the rotor.
2. The machine, driven by a liquid, consists of a rotor including flat discs mounted on a shaft in a housing with inlet and outlet ports.
3. A rotary engine driven by the properties of fluidity and viscosity of a moving fluid consists of a housing that forms a chamber with inputs and outputs tangent to the periphery in the central part; rotor consisting of discs mounted on a shaft.
4. A machine driven by a liquid consists of disks fixed on a shaft located in a housing with inlet and outlet windows through which a liquid can flow under the action of radial and tangential forces in a natural spiral-like flow from the periphery to the center, and transfer energy through properties viscosity and fluidity.
5. The machine, driven by a liquid, consists of disks having a flat shape and a gap between which the liquid flows from the periphery to the center.
6. The machine, driven by a liquid, consists of a rotor, which includes flat discs with gaps, fixed on a shaft with an outlet port in the central part, allowing the fluid to flow through these gaps.
7. The thermodynamic converter consists of a series of coaxially fixed flat discs located in a housing with inlet ports at the periphery and outlet ports in the central part.
8. The thermodynamic converter consists of a series of coaxially fixed flat discs with windows in the central part; buildings with entrance windows on the periphery and exit windows extending from the central part.
