DESIGN

ENGINEERING
BLADELESS TURBINE
 Abstract
The primary objective is to perform an experimental
analysis of bladeless turbine. It is an unconventional
turbine that uses fluid/air properties such as
boundary layer and adhesion of fluid on series of
smooth discs keyed to a shaft .Resistance to fluid/
air flow between the disc plates results in energy
transfer to the shaft. This turbine can be used for
small scale industry to develop power with high
efficiency than conventional one. Thus an analysis of
the performance and efficiency of bladeless turbine
is to be carried out.
 Introduction of Bladeless Turbine
Tesla turbine, a bladeless turbine, was patented by the famous scientist Nikola
Tesla (1856–1943) in 1913. Up to now, a major stumbling block in its commercial
use has been its low efficiency and certain other operational difficulties. However,
there has been a resurgence of research interest in this type of turbines because
they have several advantages (as explained below) and hence may be
appropriately developed and used in certain niche application areas.
The Tesla turbine is also known as disc turbine because the rotor of this turbine
is formed by a series of flat, parallel, co-rotating discs, which are closely spaced
and attached to a central shaft. The working fluid is injected nearly tangentially
to the rotor by means of inlet nozzle. The injected fluid, which passes through the
narrow gaps between the discs, approaches spirally towards the exhaust port
located at the centre of each disc. The viscous drag force, produced due to the
relative velocity between the rotor and the working fluid, causes the rotor to
rotate. There is a housing surrounding the rotor, with a small radial and axial
clearance.
 Concept of Boundary Layer Effect
In physics and fluid mechanics, a boundary layer is
the layer of fluid in the immediate vicinity of
a surface where the effects of viscosity are
significant. In the Earth's atmosphere,
the atmospheric boundary layer is the air layer near
the ground affected by diurnal heat, moisture or
momentum transfer to or from the surface. On
an aircraft wing the boundary layer is the part of the
flow close to the wing, where viscous forces distort
the surrounding non-viscous flow
Different types of Boundary Layer Flow
There are two different types of boundary layer flow
listed below:
1)Laminar Boundary Layer Flow
The laminar boundary is a very smooth flow, while the
turbulent boundary layer contains swirls or "eddies."
The laminar flow creates less skin friction drag than
the turbulent flow, but is less stable. Boundary layer
flow over a wing surface begins as a smooth laminar
flow. As the flow continues back from the leading edge,
the laminar boundary layer increases in thickness.
2) Turbulent Boundary Layer Flow
• At some distance back from the leading edge,
the smooth laminar flow breaks down and
transitions to a turbulent flow. From a drag
standpoint, it is advisable to have the transition
from laminar to turbulent flow as far aft on the
wing as possible, or have a large amount of the
wing surface within the laminar portion of the
boundary layer. The low energy laminar flow,
however, tends to break down more suddenly
than the turbulent layer.
 ADVANTAGES
Corrosion and cavitation is less.
Simple in construction.
Pollution free.
Low cost to produce and maintain.
Lower design and production costs than standard turbines, jet
engines and pumps.
As it is bladeless, it is not require to design the blade geometry.
High-speed.
This type of equipment can be operated at a wide range of
working medium parameters without any danger and malfunction.
It is not so sensitive to a partially polluted working
medium, since the fluid flow is parallel to disks, so it can
be operated with saturated steam.
It can be used in reverse direction.
Improved reliability, resistance to erosion due to
cavitation when steam quality is poor.
A cost-effective, elegant, clean/ green and robust
solution to compressor power prob.
 Application
• Applied to various low torque operation.
• Applied to small scale industry.
• Geothermal applications.
• Chemical, oil & petrochemical processing.
• Pulp & paper manufacturing.
• Waste water treatment &disposal applications.
• Mining & environmental clean-up.
• The Bladeless turbine is selected over traditional blade
turbines due to its high efficiency under pressure and the
ability to make it compact in size.
• And also reduce noise derived from the operation of an engine
 CONCLUSION
• Study and analysis of this bladeless turbine
come to conclusion that Number of discs,
spacing between discs and surface finish of
discs affects the performance of turbine
significantly .This work was carried out to study
performance of disc turbine operating on water
medium, however previous studies and
experimentation carried out with air and steam
medium.
THANK YOU