MAY 04

A research company in New Hampshire recently announced the patent of their bladeless wind turbine, which is based on a patent issued to Nikola Tesla in 1913. The Fuller Wind Turbine developed by Solar Aero has only one rotating part, the turbine-driveshaft. The entire assembly is contained inside a housing, so that this turbine offers several advantages versus blade-style (primarily horizontal-axis type) turbines. With a screened inlet and outlet, this turbine does not present a danger to wildlife such as bats and birds. To an outside observer, the only movement visible is the entire turbine housing as it adjusts to track the wind. This also makes it a good candidate for use near military surveillance and radar installations, where moving blades would otherwise cause difficulties.

According to the company, the turbine is expected to deliver power at a cost comparable to coal-fired power plants. Total operating costs over the lifetime of the unit are expected to be about $0.12/kWh. The turbine also should have fewer maintenance requirements, leading to lower lifetime operating costs. The turbine itself can also be supported on magnetic bearings, and all of the generating equipment kept at ground level, which will also make maintenance easier. The company estimates "final costs will be about $1.50/watt rated output, or roughly 2/3 the cost of comparable bladed units."

The Tesla turbine operates using the viscous flow of a fluid to move the turbine and thereby produce energy. The Tesla turbine "consists of a set of smooth disks, with nozzles applying a moving gas to the edge of the disk. The gases drag on the disk by means of viscosity and the adhesion of the surface layer of the gas. As the gas slows and adds energy to the disks, it spirals in to the center exhaust. Since the rotor has no projections, it is very sturdy." Disks in the turbine need to be closely spaced in order to capture the viscous flow,. In order to be effective, the Tesla turbine also needs to have extremely thin disks to minimize turbulence at the edges. Tesla was not able to find metals of sufficient quality to make this work effectively, but apparently, nearly a century later, those limitations have been overcome.

Solar Aero's current example is an unassuming trailer-mounted unit, but a unit the size of the one pictured (see website) "should be capable of 10kW output with no problem," according to the inventor. The number of disks determines the amount of power that can be produced. It will be interesting to see if this technology takes off, and if the technology is something that can be scaled up to provide utility level power production, or if it is only a niche system. In any case, it is interesting to see alternatives to bladed wind turbines.

Comments (19)

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written by Doc Rings, May 04, 2010

They need to post a computer model video on how this contraption works... that would lead to sales. Also, would be nice to see a wind speed vs. power output graph.

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written by Doc Rings, May 04, 2010

http://tinyurl.com/DIY-Tesla-Turbine for a DIY project on how to make your own!

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Interesting...
written by Bryan, May 04, 2010

Granted I am not an engineer of any kind, but why don't they install solar panels on the blade wind mills. There is obviously extra cost in doing that, but more electricity would be generated.

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written by Sarah, May 04, 2010

Cool! I think this is really great for birds and bats! I wonder if there is any information on the amount of space these take up compared to the current turbines. Are they the same size? Do they require the same amount of land per turbine? But definitely a step in the right direction. I hope they are made available to developers sooner rather than later.

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written by net97surferx, May 04, 2010

Tesla does it again! I agree -- an animation would go far to educate the masses... and probably boost sales. Would be interesting to see a comparison of the unit shown at EcoGeek versus... whatever sized monster it would take to be 'equivalent' in output.

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A picture or drawing of whole machine would be nice
written by Matt, May 04, 2010

Will I glad to see another approach being taken, but the web site contains no meat.

The Tesla turbine was design for steam, as the 1965 PM artical shows a power company build a 2ft-2ft-3ft model used 120psi steam and got 200 horse power.

I guess they plan to put a big housing, say the size of large turbine blades in front of this and channel the air into the opening. So will you will not have the "noise" of a large wind turbine, it likely going to have a bigger visual impact. If that is the case not sure how much safer it is for birds and bats.

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How many watts per square meter cross section? 10kW?
written by Carl Hage, May 04, 2010

The unit pictured looks like it has about a 1 square meter opening. A 20mph wind has .6kW of energy, and about 20% conversion is typical (some as high as 40%), or about 120W. The claim of 10kW for a unit this size is about 2 orders of magnitude more than expected-- independent of the kind of machine.

Compare that to a 100m diameter turbine-- the same calculations would estimate a power of about 1MW, just about what they are. The reason they have giant blades, is to get a large cross section, and so enough power to pay for the thing.

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@Sarah - it is dangerous to insects apart from nonsense
written by Mary, May 05, 2010

This machine will have rotating parts which spin so fast that they would be a danger to smaller flying creatures like insects.

The machine is too small to generate much power. I think it is BS in search of VC.

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Another turbine idea
written by mkass, May 05, 2010

Here's another take on the idea of a wind turbine. (I am a total fan of ideas by Tesla, though.) http://organicconnectmag.com/w...an-energy/

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written by Sarah, May 06, 2010

@Mary For the most part we can only hope for less environmental impact, not zero.

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written by Markus, May 07, 2010

There are little airfoils between the disks, out at the edge, which give it the push. pic here http://www.physorg.com/news192426996.html
Cool idea, hope it can scale up.

Markus

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Diagram, interesting trick
written by Ming the Magificent, May 09, 2010

The disks turn both ways at the same time?

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I'm sheptical
written by Jon Starbuck, May 13, 2010

I'm sceptical, it does not look like very efficient. I'd like to see test data over a range of wind speeds.

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Skeptical too.
written by Brainjack, May 30, 2010

Not buying this concept at all. Doing similar math as others, but in the end ask how much power output would there be at an efficient wind speed? (a reliable speed)...100-200W? that's hardly worth it.

I wonder with some 'design blogs' that it's more about art and mental stimulation then reliable engineered prototypes. That's NOT ok though, as it's implied that what you see is factual. or the next 'revolution'

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written by Brian, June 06, 2010

Can the original steam version be adapted to run on steam radiators in homes located in cold-weather climates. It could generate power off steam generated: one from the radiator heat and the other for electricity. This would only be used in cold weather, but it since no additional energy is being used to generate steam for the turbine, it would be off incremental benefit, no?

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Not buying it.....
written by JP, June 18, 2010

This is one of those scams similar to "Better World Technologies" Playing off of Tesla's Cache they try and lure the uninitiated into "investing". I just think it is a crime these "news" outlets don't have someone with a little science and engineering background that can see through the BS or at least ask the obvious questions before giving these crooks so much free advertising.

Tesla turbines work great at relatively high fluid pressures. Something very difficult to achieve from the wind. Perhaps you could achieve the pressures necessary form an extensive and complicated venturi.
My question is why the reporter didn't ask the relatively obvious questions. I guess reprinting press releases is as good as journalism gets these days.

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written by Paddy Forsayeth, June 28, 2010

I have designed a horizontal wind mill which operates by having large pressures on the wind side of the rotor and relatively very small pressures going into the wind. This causes rotation. The mill doesn't have to be steered into the wind...it operates in any wind direction. The mill could be scaled up and run on rails hundreds of metres in radius.
Can someone give me information on the efficiency figures of propeller wind generators? I'm at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it '> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Cheers
Paddy Forsayeth

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We've been working on a Tesla Turbine running on 90% H2O2
written by Kris, August 29, 2011

To make a wind turbine like this the materials would have to be super light and good sized. We use 440 Stainless plates and the entire turbine plate we have, which is 17.75in. D, weighs in at 180lbs. You'd have to have a ton of wind to get this moving. Take a look at http://www.seabirdadventure.co...-different and let me know what you all think...?

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This wind turbine design could really work
written by Wind Option, January 07, 2012

As you can see on my blog we focus only on wind power. I have recently studied about the bladeless wind turbine and it could really work. I'll try to build one at home and I will come back to let you know how I built it.

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