Boundary Layer Turbine: Difference between revisions
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==Bottom Line: Simplicity== | |||
The bounary layer turbine is the simplest design of a turbine possible. Compare this to the steam turbines of modern power plants, and you can appreciate the difference: | |||
[[Image:steam_turbine.jpg]] | |||
Revision as of 03:28, 27 January 2008
Design Rationale
Drawings by Dan Granett, Granett Engineering:
This is an external combustion engine with proven efficiencies of 25% for un-optimized models with steam (Rice, Warren, Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Engineering and Power, January 1965, pp. 28-36). A working fluid spins this turbine by means of surface friction. When the disk spacing is small (on the scale of a millimeter), energy transfer from the working fluid to the disks can be efficient. Design rationale:
Working fluid (such as steam) enters tangentially to the disks through a nozzle:
Bearings must be protected from the working fluid with a shaft seal seal:
Working fluid must be prevented from escaping past the outer disks so that it can transfer its energy effectively to all the disks. To do this, we put in a ring seal:
Bottom Line: Simplicity
The bounary layer turbine is the simplest design of a turbine possible. Compare this to the steam turbines of modern power plants, and you can appreciate the difference:
