1913

Tesla turbine

• Referred to as a bladeless turbine,
• the Tesla turbine isn’t really bladeless,
• but has many smooth disks
• that lie along the line of flow
• and not athwart it.
• The surface layer of the moving fluid
• spins the disks by adherence
• according to
• what is called
• the boundary-layer effect.

A challenge

• Disks in the Tesla turbine
• are smooth.
• Without vanes to be torqued by the flow,
• they are more sturdy.
• But the need for the disks to be thin
• to reduce warping from turbulence
• at the edges of the disks
• was a challenge.

Tesla pump

• In practice, Testla turbines
• were less efficient than conventional turbines.
• But if you power the Tesla turbine,
• it becomes a pump which, owing to its lack of vanes,
• can be used to pump waste materials
• that contain solids that would block a normal pump.