Bladed Turbine

Introduction

A proven heat engine option is a bladed turbine. The advantage is that experimental results in literature for small-scale bladed turbines indicate approximately 5-fold better performance than the bladeless turbine. While bladeless turbine results in the Warren Rice experiments indicate 5 lb/min mass flow rates of the working fluid and a mechanical power output of about 1 hp, the C. Christopher Newton Master's thesis on a solar turbine indicate a mass flow rate of under 1 lb for similar power output. The performance of the latter was over 1 kW of mechanical power from a turbine with a rotor of 5" diameter.

The bladed turbine should thus be examined for practicality - primarily in its ease of fabrication and longevity - if we are considering sustainable energy systems.

Bladed Turbine Design and Performance

The following is taken from the above reference on the bladed turbine: