Open Access

ARTICLE

Structure Optimization of a Tesla Turbine Using an Organic Rankine Cycle Technology

Yongguo Li^1,2, Caiyin Xu^1,2,*, Can Qin^1,2, Dingjian Zheng^1,2

1 School of Engineering, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China
2 Shanghai Marine Renewable Energy Engineering Technology Research Center, Shanghai, 201306, China

* Corresponding Author: Caiyin Xu. Email:

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2024, 20(6), 1251-1263. https://doi.org/10.32604/fdmp.2023.044804

Received 09 August 2023; Accepted 30 November 2023; Issue published 27 June 2024

Abstract

The so-called ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle) heat recovery technology has attracted much attention with regard to medium and low temperature waste heat recovery. In the present study, it is applied to a Tesla turbine. At the same time, the effects of the disc speed, diameter and inter-disc gap on the internal flow field and output power of the turbine are also investigated by means of CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) numerical simulation, by which the pressure, velocity, and output efficiency of the internal flow field are obtained under different internal and external conditions. The highest efficiency (66.4%) is obtained for a number of nozzles equal to 4, a disk thickness of 1 mm, and a gap of 1 mm between the disks. The results of the study serve as a theoretical basis for the structural design and optimization of Tesla turbines.

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Keywords

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