2022

Usage of Tesla Turbine in ORC

M Waqas Naseem
2021-ME-003
4/9/2022
M Waqas Naseem Communication skills 2021-ME-003

Table of Contents
Table of Contents.......................................................................................................................................1
Abstract......................................................................................................................................................2
Objective....................................................................................................................................................2
Introduction...............................................................................................................................................2
Methodology..............................................................................................................................................4
Results........................................................................................................................................................6
Calculations............................................................................................................................................6
Analysis..................................................................................................................................................7
Discussions.................................................................................................................................................8
Conclusions..............................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................................10

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M Waqas Naseem Communication skills 2021-ME-003

Usage of Tesla Turbine In Organic Rankine Cycle

Muhammad Waqas Naseem, 2021-ME-003

Abstract
Tesla Turbine can be used in Organic Rankine Cycle System as a turbine to produce Electricity
by using waste energy which produces in different industries and also helps in stabilizing the
environment. Tesla Turbine can be used with Organic Rankine Cycle on a small level or to
produce electricity in commercial as well as small house industries if a proper structure of Tesla
Turbine will be formed. Tesla is not complicated as other steam turbines and can be easy to use.
It is a bladeless turbine therefore not a well-skilled person is required for its maintenance. In this
report, there will be proper steps taken to convert Tesla Turbine into a more efficient way to
produce energy on the commercial level. It is a good opportunity to use Tesla Turbine. It can be
used for small applications because Organic Rankine Cycle can be operated at low energy that is
produced as waste heat.

Objective
 To use Tesla Turbine in a more efficient way to increase its efficiency.
 To reuse the waste energy produced by industries using the Organic Rankine Cycle System.

Introduction
As the world is advancing day by day and it is making progress in every field of life. Therefore,
with the advancement, the utilization of electricity is also increasing. To overcome this problem
there are various methods to overcome this problem and the usage of the Organic Rankine Cycle
System is also one the method. Other methods include Thermal energy, Biomass energy, Solar
energy, and other forms of energy. Tesla Turbine can be used to fulfill the needs of the electricity
on the small levels by using the Organic Rankine Cycle System which is the modern technology
for the Conservation of waste energy produced by industries like the cement industry, paper
industry, non-ferrous compounds developing industry, steel, and iron industry, and other
industries[1].

Tesla Turbine was invented by a famous scientist Nikola Tesla in 1913. It consists of
disks that are connected with the shaft and there is a fixed distance between the disks that
distance plays an important role in the working of the Tesla Turbine. The distance is kept at
about 0.3mm. The working principle of the Tesla Turbine is based on the Viscosity of the fluid
used because the disks rotate due to the friction between the fluid and the disks. It is a bladeless
turbine therefore it is also called a bladeless turbine and is very simple in structure and easy to
use. At the time when Nikola Tesla invented this turbine, this turbine was not so efficient as the
other blade turbines but it can be made efficient by proper working on it. Moreover, at the time
of its invention world war II starts and Nikola was also not able to more investments to carry

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down his project. However, Nikola Tesla considered this invention one of its favorite inventions
but engineers considered this invention to be not so efficient. If proper work is to be done on it
then it is one the best way of producing electricity in the commercial as well as for small
industries[2].

Tesla Turbine was able to beat the efficiency levels of steam turbines at the time. Normal
turbines are complex in design with blades of complicated geometry and stator parts. Nikola
Tesla once said the Tesla Turbine is his favorite invention and he even claimed an efficiency
level of 97 percent for this turbine. On the airfoil principle, the fluid gushing over the airfoil
cross-section will generate lift force on it and make the blade turn. However, to make this turbine
spin, Nikola Tesla relied on a totally different phenomenon. The viscous effect of fluid on solid
surfaces. We have seen this effect before when water flows over a rounded stone it makes the
stone move because of the viscous force between the water and the stone surface. Nikola Tesla
extrapolated this very force to run his turbine. Who knows tesla might have got the inspiration
for his turbine from this very example that I have discussed above of a stone in a fluid. If we
produce the viscous force tangential to a disc it will start to spin. This the simple form of Tesla
Turbine. However, this is quite an inefficient turbine. Most of the jet's energy is lost due this
viscous phenomenon.

However, outside the boundary layer, no relative motion occurs between the layers or
the force between the layers is zero. To make use of this boundary layer phenomenon, Nikola
Tesla came up with a unique idea. He added two more parallel disks. Now let's observe the flow
a boundary layer is formed on every surface. As we saw earlier the particles in the boundary
layer region will try to drag or rotate the respective disk. However, you can see a region outside
both the boundary layers where fluid particles are flowing freely without any velocity gradient.
This free flow does not impart any energy to the disk and contributes little to the torque
generation. To make his turbine more efficient Nikola Tesla brought the disks closer keeping the
gap approximately twice the boundary layer. Here no free flow occurs, the two boundary layer
regions are touching each other and we can see the shear effects are now dominant between the
disk space. For steam, this ideal distance was found to be 0.4 millimeters. Using this method,
tesla improved the torque output of his turbine. Tesla found that by increasing the effective area
between disc and fluid. The turbine can produce more torque. So, he added more disks. This
model had a diameter of six inches. However, this design failed horribly.

The issue was that this turbine would run at a very high speed i.e. 35 000 rpm. Nikola
Tesla never thought that this turbine would produce such a high rpm and the disc strength was
not sufficient enough to withstand the huge centrifugal force produced in the material resulting in
material expansion and disk failure by warping. Nikola Tesla could not find any material to
withstand such a high rpm at that time. Eventually, he had to reduce the rpm to less than ten
thousand to save the discs from mechanical failure. Now for the big question despite the fact that
Tesla Turbines are so easy to construct why aren't they used in the power generation industries.
The reason is that modern-day steam turbines are more than 90 percent efficient. We know that

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the tesla turbine becomes more efficient as the rotor speed increases. But for the tesla turbine to
achieve such a high efficiency level. The rotor has to spin at a very high rpm maybe fifty
thousand. The major challenge is that for industrial applications. We need a disk size of two or
three meters. Consider the hypothetical tesla turbine disks with a diameter of three meters it's an
engineering impossibility to operate such large-diameter discs at a speed of 50 000 rpm.

The main issue is that of the blade tip velocity, the most modern steam turbine blades are
able to achieve a mach number at their tips or 1.8 times the speed of sound a rough calculation
shows that these hypothetical disks will be having a mach number of 13. The tips definitely an
engineering impossibility. The only option left is to reduce the rpm and we know this act will
lead to a huge drop in the turbine's efficiency. Therefore, Nikola Tesla's claim of 97% efficiency
for his 6-inch model seems unrealistic. Remember, he was able to run this turbine only under less
than 10,000 rpm. Despite, these drawbacks, the tesla turbine has found some applications
interestingly. For instance, the Tesla Turbine is reversible, it can work as a pump if we supply
energy to the rotor also we know that Tesla Turbines work based on fluid's viscous effects So
these kinds of pumps are used in high viscosity applications like wastewater plants, the
petroleum industry and ventricular assistance pumps[1].

Methodology
Steps are taken to increase the efficiency of the Turbine by decreasing the distance between the
disks but when the turbine runs at high RPM which is more than 10,000 RPM then the disks
started bending in their structure. Therefore, it is not possible to run the Turbine at a high RPM.

Fig. 1 Structure of the Tesla Turbine

Fig. 1 shows the structure of the Tesla Turbine which shows that normally 8 discs are used in
Turbine with each disk of 15.2 cm in diameter and having a weight of 4.5 kg. The turbine gives

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an output of 30 hp which is sufficient for the running of home applications as well as for small
industries.

Fig. 2 Structure of the disks

Shows the structure of the Disks used in the Tesla Turbine. All the disks are connected to the shaft with
is connected with the generator.

Fig. 3 Motion of the Fluid in Tesla Turbine

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Shows the angular motion of the fluid in the turbine. More the point of connects between the
fluid and the disk more will be efficient. Fluid moves from the outer end of the disk and moves
to the inner end. The fluid transfers its kinetic energy to the turbine.

Results
Due to the simplicity of the Tesla Turbine, it can be easily used as a turbine in the Organic
Rankine Cycle System. Tesla Turbine is one of the best solutions for using it[3].

The selected water is hot, the initial temperature is 0.5t/h and the temperature is 393.15 K.
Temperature depends upon the fluids as well as the surrounding temperature. Following are the
seven fluids used in the experiment:

Table 1. Properties of the working fluid candidates.

Working Molecular Normal Critical Critical GWP ODP

fluid weight boiling temperature pressure
(g/mol) point (K) (K) (kPa)
R123 152.93 301.0 456.8 3661.8 120 0.012
R600 58.12 272.7 425.1 3796.0 ∼20 0
R600a 58.12 261.4 407.8 3629.0 ∼20 0
R236ea 152.04 279.3 412.4 3502.0 1350 0
R236fa 152.04 271.7 398.1 3200.0 9400 0
R245ca 134.05 298.3 477.6 3940.7 693 0
R245fa 134.05 288.3 427.2 3651.0 950 0
Calculations
Work done by the turbine is given by the following formula as given below:

The heat of evaporation is given by the following formula:

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The net work done is given by the following given formula:

While the net efficiency of the Tesla Turbine can be calculated by the following formula

Hydrocarbons can also be used as a fluid in Tesla Turbine in which n-Hexane is the more
efficient fluid used.

Analysis
We make this design more efficient and practical by making some useful changes. Let's
place the shaft disc pair inside a casing. Now the fluid enters through the outer casing tangential
to it. A provision for the fluid to exit is at the center of the turbine. Assume an inlet fluid with
slightly higher pressure than the atmospheric pressure is entering the inlet nozzle at low speed.
Since the fluid has a low velocity, the viscous force between the disc and the fluid will be very
minimal and the disc won't rotate. The exit hole is at atmospheric pressure, which means the
fluid will have a slightly higher pressure than the atmosphere and naturally flows towards the
center almost in a straight line. Now increase the fluid speed. Since the fluid has a greater speed
the interaction between the fluid and disc surface will produce sufficient viscous force. To turn
the disc here comes an interesting twist. When the fluid particles are rotating, they need a certain
amount of centripetal force to maintain that motion. A fluid particle of the same velocity requires
more centripetal force near the center than away from it. For this reason, the rotating fluid
particles have a tendency to move away from the center. However, the turbine exit is at the
center so the fluid particles have to reach it. Eventually due to these opposing effects in the
rotating case. The particle motion will curve out.

The curved path particles have more radius. Now we gradually increase the fluid speed,
you can see the curvature of the fluid particles will further increase and form a kind of spiral this
concept is clearer. When you track the same fluid particle for different disk speeds. The greater

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the disk speed, the more the particle moves away from the center. The fluid flow's spiral shape is
in fact a blessing in disguise. The spiral shape increases the contact 3:53 area between the fluid
particles and the disc surface, thus increasing the viscous force production on the disc. This
effect also means that the faster the turbine rotates the more energy it will extract from the fluid.
In other words, the tesla turbine exhibits high efficiency during high speed operations. To
improve this design further, we need to understand a key concept called boundary layer
thickness. We can observe in this system that the fluid particles which are in close contact with
the disk adhere to it and form a stationary layer. The next layer of molecules tries to pull the
stationary layer in the flow direction. However, in this process, they lose some energy to the
stationary layer molecules. The same thing happens with subsequent layers. This tendency of
fluid particles to resist the flow of the other particles is known as viscosity. In this way, you can
clearly observe a velocity variation. The region up to which this velocity variation exists is
known as boundary layer region. Inside the boundary layer one fluid layer produces a drag force
on the neighboring layer. Since a relative motion occurs between the layers.

Discussions
Tesla Turbine can be made more efficient in this modern era because now we are able to make a
material that can sustain the high speed of the Turbine. As in the past, the disks get bent due to
high velocity and this is one of the main defects that face during the working of the turbine. The
material of the disk is made good enough that it must sustain the high RPM speed. In the present
era, Electricity shortage is the main cause of the under-developing world[4]. The Organic
Rankine Cycle System is the main source to produce electricity from the waste energy produced
in the industries. It is also helpful because it decreases the energy that is wasted in the
environment. Approximate 40 % of the industry’s energy is wasted every year causing the
temperature of the environment to increase. It is an environment-friendly system that controls the
pollution produced due to the emission of CO2 and other toxic gasses[5].

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Fig. 4 inner structure of the turbine

It is also beneficial for that area where water shortage is the main reason. It is also not
very expensive but in the benefit of the industry because wasted energy is reused to obtain
electricity. It also fulfills the energy crisis of the country. The 40 % heat that is wasted every year
is reused using this technique[3].

The Organic Rankine Cycle technology allows the generation of electric and thermal
power starting from renewable resources including Biomass, Geothermal Energy, Solar energy,
and recovery of waste heat from industrial processes engines or gas turbines. In this way,
Organic Rankine Cycle plays an important role in controlling the Air pollution that causes the
increase in the temperature of the universe. Also, it consumes the waste energy that is produced
in many industries as a by-product of the energy that is not used. It is playing an important role
in consuming natural energy sources as well as waste energy resources. There is the Turbine
Water vapor found in traditional models is replaced with a specific organic working fluid with a
high molecular mass the specific working fluid makes it possible to fully exploit heat sources
even at lower temperatures to produce electricity in a range from 200 kilowatts up to 15
megawatts electric power. In general, to Boden OHC units can work with different heat sources
and can be powered by thermal oil geothermal water, saturated steam all processes exhaust
fumes. Organic Rankine Cycle can be easily run at a low-temperature range that is one of the
great advantages of the Organic Rankine Cycle that it consumes energy at a low temperature and
can run at low energy. The organic fluid is fed into the closed-loop through a pump through it
then runs through the regenerator coil where it undergoes initial heating. The fluid is then

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conveyed into the preheater and into the evaporator at this point the thermal oil in the boiler
increases the temperature of the fluid until it reaches evaporation point the vapor generated then
expands into the turbine to produce Electric power through a generator. Downstream of the
turbine the vapor contributes to preheating the Organic liquid in the regenerator and in the
condenser it produces thermal power to the heat exchange with cooling water lastly back in its
liquid from the organic fluid is conveyed to the pump and from there it is reintroduced into the
closed-loop[2].

Aside from high cycle efficiency, the Organic Rankine System has many other significant
advantages low mechanical stress of the turbine due to low peripheral speed low turbine RPM
allows the direct drive of the electric generator without a speed reduction unit the absence of
vapor humidity guarantees a longer life of the turbine and independent functioning with no on-
site operator required in addition the system boosts operating advantages such as quiet operation
and good performance even at partial loads the simplicity of all start-up and the stop procedures
and the minimum maintenance requirements allow system management even by a non-certified
technician. So our Boden monitors its turbo generators even after system commissioning an
advanced control system makes it possible to continuously monitor each unit remotely via the
web research and development design production assembly and commissioning all of these
comprise a single process that follows in every phase so that every Organic Rankine Cycle
System turbo generator provides the solution to every need[6].

Fig.5 Motion of the fluid in the Tesla Turbine

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Conclusions
In the working of the Tesla Turbine, the fluid enters from one nozzle and it rotates to the inner
side of the disks. The disks rotate due to the friction between the fluid and the disks therefore,
fluid with high viscosity is used. However, two input nozzles, as well as two output nozzles, are
used. To get high efficiency, the disks must have to run at a high RPM speed to get more energy
from the Turbine. But at that time, it was not possible at that time because was no such
advancement as the current era. Disks are of not good material, therefore, it was not possible at
that time to work the turbine at such a high speed without any defect. To overcome this problem
Nikola Tesla decreased the distance between the disks.

References

1. Manfrida, G., L. Pacini, and L. Talluri, An upgraded Tesla turbine concept for ORC applications.
Energy, 2018. 158: p. 33-40.
2. Gomez-Osorio, M.A., et al., A formulation for the flow rate of a fluid passing through an orifice
plate from the First Law of Thermodynamics. Flow Measurement and Instrumentation, 2013. 33:
p. 197-201.
3. Song, J., C.-w. Gu, and X.-s. Li, Performance estimation of Tesla turbine applied in small scale
Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2017. 110: p. 318-326.
4. Talluri, L., et al., Design and optimization of a Tesla turbine for ORC applications. Applied energy,
2018. 226: p. 300-319.
5. Talluri, L., et al. Geometry and performance assessment of Tesla turbines for ORC. in Proceedings
of ORC2019, 5th International Seminar on ORC Power Systems. 2019.
6. Ji, F., et al., Investigation on performance and implementation of Tesla turbine in engine waste
heat recovery. Energy conversion and management, 2019. 179: p. 326-338.

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