Disk Turbine Rotary Engine

Tesla called it a "powerhouse in a hat." One version developed 110 h.p. at 5000 RPM and was less than ten inches in diameter. Tesla believed larger turbines could achieve 1000 h.p. The disk-turbine rotary engine runs vibration-free. It is cheap to manufacture because nothing but the rotor bearings needs to be fitted to close tolerances. If necessary, the rotor can be replaced with ease. The turbine can run on steam, compressed air, gasoline or oil.

how it works

Unlike conventional turbines that use blades or buckets to catch the flow, Tesla's uses a set of rigid metal disks that, instead of battling the propelling stream at steep angles, runs with smooth efficiency in parallel with the flow.

What drives the disks is a peculiar adhesion that exists between the surface of a body and any moving fluid. This adhesion, a hindrance to aircraft and other vehicles, is, in Tesla's words, caused by "the shock of the fluid against the asperities of the solid substance" (simple resistance) and "from internal forces opposing molecular separation" (a sticking phenomenon).