Experiment and Analysis of a Combustion Fueled Tesla Turbine

Presenter Information

Matthew Hudson, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Nicholas Esler, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Tom Happy, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Eric Schaupp, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Location

CSU 253/4/5

Start Date

4-4-2011 1:30 PM

End Date

4-4-2011 3:00 PM

Student's Major

Integrated Engineering

Student's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Mentor's Name

Dan Ewert

Mentor's Department

Integrated Engineering

Mentor's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Second Mentor's Name

Ron Ulseth

Second Mentor's Department

Integrated Engineering

Second Mentor's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Third Mentor's Name

Andy Lillesve

Third Mentor's Deparment

Integrated Engineering

Third Mentor's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Description

In this article, the implementation of a combustion chamber to power a Tesla turbine is discussed. To date, almost all experiments conducted on the Tesla turbine have used compressed air or steam as in input fluid. The results have shown that the Tesla turbine has a high theoretical efficiency (around 90%) and a max experimental efficiency of 40%. The average consumer‘s car combustion engine has an efficiency nearing 24-26% which begs the question, Can something better be created? The Tesla turbine, with its experimental efficiency being almost double that of the combustion engine, may be the answer. First, there is a difference between a Tesla turbine and a conventional turbine (i.e. wind turbine). Conventional turbines are prone to damage if struck by dust in the air, water droplets in steam or particulates from the combustion process. The Tesla turbine, due to the nature of its design, does not have the same problem as the conventional turbine: This means that combustion gases could be used in the Tesla turbine to generate power. In order to determine feasibility of the Tesla turbine outside of the lab, experiments have been conducted to determine the efficiency when using combustion gases as the working fluid. Research has been conducted to determine the optimal combustion chamber as well as design of the Tesla turbine to optimize inlet gases.