APPI
Tesla Turbine as a Compact, Liquid-Fueled
Electric Motor Generator
Advanced Portable
Power Institute
Thomas B. Carroll
VUSE Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SUGRE)
Goals
• Design and develop a compact, portable Tesla Turbine for use as a smallscale electrical power generator.
• Ability to properly seal turbine with high temperature
gaskets to minimize leakage.
The turbine will be designed for these main functions:
• Provide a power source with a higher energy density than batteries.
• Utilize either a simple mono-propellant or bi-propellant as the energetic
source.
• Use a liquid fuel such that the device is quickly re-fuelable as opposed
to batteries requiring a re-charge time.
• Complete catalysis must be achieved when utilizing
a mono-propellant.
• Design and fabricate new sharpened disks for better
utilization of the viscous drag effect.
• Limit noise production for possible military uses.
• Characterize performance as a function of disk thickness
and spacing.
• Mixture control when using a bi-propellant.
• Begin hot-gas testing. (Testing to date used cold gas)
Results to Date
Types of Turbines
Reaction
• Redesign and machine a new turbine reducing total mass by
half.
• Instrument with a more complete sensor suite to enable a
complete fluid flow measurement and characterization.
• Achieving adequate disk rigidity and strength to
avoid failure at high rpm.
• Exploit surface dominated effects to provide a scale-appropriate design.
Impulse
Future Plans
Challenges and Risks
Tesla
Energetic Merit
200 kJ/kg
Energy density of
Batteries
The Tesla Turbine consists of a series of spaced disks.
Flow is introduced at the circumference of each disk.
A flow-induced drag results in shaft work.
43,000 kJ/kg
Energy density
of JP-8 (military
fuel)
Tesla Turbine Prototype II
One of six planar
nozzles
Integrated
Catalyst Pack
1% of 43,000 =
High Pressure
distribution ring
430 kJ/kg
Energy density of
Tesla Turbine generator
system running at 1%
efficiency
Test Setup
Planar
Converging
Nozzle
(0.015 inch width)
Dr. Eric J. Barth
Joel A. Willhite
Chao Yong
Thomas B. Carroll
Endplate, gaskets,
spacer, rotor,
stator
Enlarged view of motor, coupling and shaft
Flow between these
disks results in a
viscous drag effect,
rotating the central
shaft.
3-Phase Brushless
Motor/Generator (40W)
Helical coupling
Tesla Turbine
(Prototype II)
Resistor Bank – used for
power dissipation (load)