The Interesting Engineering Behind Nikola Tesla's Bladeless Turbine

Tesla claimed an efficiency level of 97 percent for his unique turbine.
Derya Ozdemir

Maverick engineer Nikola Tesla, a prolific inventor and futurist, held approximately 300 patents by the end of his life, and he, of course, also made numerous contributions to the mechanical engineering field.

In this video, the YouTube channel Lesics examines one of Tesla's "favorite" creations: The Tesla Turbine, a bladeless centripetal flow turbine patented by the inventor in 1913. It may not appear to be much with its basic and unusual design, yet it was able to outperform steam turbines at the time in terms of efficiency. 

Tesla thought this turbine could be implemented for geothermal power, but today, we don't see it being used since it has disadvantages such as having to rely on friction interaction between a smooth surface and a fluid, which doesn't create high torque. This makes power generation pretty hard. If you want to learn more, make sure you watch the video above, and you can also watch this video to learn more about Tesla and his other inventions in general.

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