Sep15
Well now that the website's up it's time to head back to the shop.🔧
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 15, 2020
Doing a couple initial tests towards building a flash steam boiler by dripping water into a superheated tube filled with aluminum chips.
Resulting steam is at least 150c because it readily melts PLA filament🙂 pic.twitter.com/kCqiIY2haS
Sep16
Tesla Turbine tends to become more efficient at higher flows, higher nozzle velocities, and lower loads.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 16, 2020
I've not done the specific torque-testing yet but I'd estimate for 3in rotors at around 10krpm, a conventional turbine is at least twice as efficient for the same input air. pic.twitter.com/ODNAjUi5bG
I haven't made a flash steam boiler before, but this looks like it might work.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 16, 2020
Got the required tubing and fittings, gluing it all together today.
At the very least it should serve as a practical source of steam to quantitatively test different kind of turbines.#TeslaTurbine pic.twitter.com/7a5o90aTCB
Now that I'm starting work with steam power, I'll need a more airtight turbine setup to test it with.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 16, 2020
Making another simpler single-rotor turbine with what I learned on the last two iterations.
Should only take another day or so to finish.🔧🙂#TeslaTurbine pic.twitter.com/7qtYY8IEA9
The low-gradient experiments are more interesting right now too because it would porentially make a solar hot-water-powered engine practical.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 17, 2020
A 1-4kw steam turbine would be much cheaper with evacuated pipes than with 4kw worth of photovoltaic panels.
Sep17
ASMR Machining🔧 pic.twitter.com/AfNJeU7v5W
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 17, 2020
Flash steam boiler update for the turbine project(s).
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 17, 2020
No pressure yet, but it does make steam🤓 pic.twitter.com/nijAzjZAKD
Machining the other cap for the mini-turbine, few mounting screws and a spot to fit the bearings.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 17, 2020
I accidentally countersunk the mounting screws on the wrong side, which I ended up cobbling a fix for that worked alright.https://t.co/7Faeyi6fHh pic.twitter.com/U08CXqbdE2
New mini turbine's just about finished. I'll machine the inlet+outlet ports tomorrow and should be able to test it just after that.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 18, 2020
I'm making this new one instead of hacking the V2 build because this one is designed to be completely air-tight.https://t.co/YYaVys27ti pic.twitter.com/VX7cMpx2w5
https://t.co/YYaVys27ti pic.twitter.com/pLyp7rNN5R
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 18, 2020
Depending how much luck I have here, a multistage radial turbine looks like an interesting project in the future as well.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 18, 2020
It's one of the few types of turbines that can be made with relatively loose tolerances on a very basic CNC mill.🧐https://t.co/R65ZyU3wIq pic.twitter.com/2UW1spAs3L
Sep18
RIP little end mill. Your death will be avenged🔧 pic.twitter.com/ok9MTAtsKE
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 18, 2020
Fixing the outlet to the turbine project. The question is to glue, braze, or weld?
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 18, 2020
Welding is ideal but is so thick it may not work well (and my Aluminum welding skills are not… 'ideal')
Leaning toward brazing to get the best of both worlds pic.twitter.com/4LP5VlyAdR
I went with aluminum brazing. Air-tight, nice and strong👍https://t.co/FVwcDPdONK pic.twitter.com/igDhHEHy9t
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 18, 2020
And the finished unit.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 18, 2020
Pretty poor performance with this rotor.🤨 The left-handed rotor works better if powered with compressed air from the outer rim,
but I think maybe the blade size would be better for liquid than for air (more inertia).https://t.co/NyBpptOM8R pic.twitter.com/Qiyel2fl6d
I'm also thinking this blade-shape works better as a pump than as a turbine.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 18, 2020
It's not the direction I'm focused at the moment, but maybe I'll check to see how far it will sling a jet of water. https://t.co/C8yGX8S85j
Sep19
Today's turbine tinkerings: pic.twitter.com/YmrDz1TPTv
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 19, 2020
Up to 14,000rpm on my last bench test
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 19, 2020
Trying a 3d-printed plastic rotor with more smaller blades. Result is vastly improved performance. Spins up to almost 19,000rpm😳 https://t.co/y02N73IZtp pic.twitter.com/NIPvvEUewM
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 19, 2020
It seems that for <50kw turbines that pelton wheels are often the go-to choice, but then the nozzle geometry becomes critical.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 19, 2020
I think I'm gonna try for one more design with a variable injector-nozzle before moving on to another directionhttps://t.co/5TlPniy1O9 pic.twitter.com/4lMxRI1Myr
Theoretically it is possible to combine a heat pump (all modern refrigerators use this) with a turbine to create an engine that runs off ambient heat.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 19, 2020
Tesla's 'ambient heat engine'.
You still need to supply calories to keep it running, but the only byproduct is refrigeration.😁 pic.twitter.com/RtoBUqouYr
Sep20
Today's workshop agenda, try to find or machine a needle valve to serve as a variable injector, and try out a pelton wheel-style rotor for the turbine project.https://t.co/9J0S8CxdFF pic.twitter.com/4TFvHiJi9h
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 20, 2020
Needle-valve injector built today, lots of lathe-work later.🥱
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 20, 2020
You know how when you put your thumb over a garden hose that the water stream shoots out with less flow but more force?
This is the same principle except it drives a turbine with it.https://t.co/8MrQxe8WE0 pic.twitter.com/AYg7gIyUY9
Tried out the homemade turbine rotor as a water pump instead of as a turbine.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 20, 2020
Not a bad result for an ~800rpm drill.🔧😁
It might be strong enough to use as the compressor pump for a heat engine or just as some kind of transfer pump if the need ever arose. pic.twitter.com/64zQnMqWw1
20min rotor machining condensed into 2.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 20, 2020
You can push these machines MUCH harder than this, but if you're only making one of something it's not usually worth it.
A fully-optimized HAAS mill could probably do the whole thing in under 2min flat.😳https://t.co/8MrQxe8WE0 pic.twitter.com/JrpH4J7c4R
Sep21
Testing the variable air injector today (for the turbine project)🤓
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 21, 2020
It works pretty well but will take some work to fix it to the turbine bodyhttps://t.co/1EmFT4jbBZ pic.twitter.com/KrSuJF0u98
Sep26
Testing an RC brushless motor to use as a potential turbine generator.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 26, 2020
It works OK. Current is good but the voltage is quite low. <6v output under load means I would probably have to use something to step it up to a usable voltage. pic.twitter.com/a4G3ZbQG1V
Also working on the injector portion for the turbine today.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 26, 2020
Needed to bore out the chassis, and this time I'm using JB weld to fit it to the body.
That'll pretty much call it a day while I wait for the epoxy to cure.
I should really clean up the shop in the meantime.. pic.twitter.com/WLnCLcU7cH
I also tried another brushless RC motor (not pictured) but it performed pretty horribly.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 26, 2020
I doubt it would even produce 10 watts at 10,000
There seems to be a pretty big difference between these motors as generators, even when they look the same pic.twitter.com/VLacQgnAlt
Sep27
Yep.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 27, 2020
I've been getting fairly poor results with Tesla Turbines compared to regular ones, but the principle is the same in either case.
The goal is to combine a heat pump with heat engine to create a very efficient method of refrigeration or power generation. pic.twitter.com/TcmfyjJdiL
Homemade Turbine project update.😁🔧
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 27, 2020
With what I've learned in the past few weeks I finally got the turbine up past 22,000rpm. Rotor blade-tip velocity over 200mph.😳
I'm still working on a good generator to drive with it, maybe over the next week?#TeslaTurbine #Engineering pic.twitter.com/PTooVBypRS
Sep28
I'm indirectly working towards both a heat engine and a replication of Tesla's proposed 'self-acting engine'.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 28, 2020
It's not a 'free energy' design but it could make for an EXTREMELY efficient heat pump (COP >80?)
Easy to mass-produce as well😁https://t.co/l9ZNCHCy4H pic.twitter.com/dFdxVjYtV1
Machined a backplate for the centrifugal turbine rotor.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 28, 2020
Gluing them together overnight as well as a few small leaks in the main turbine housing.https://t.co/3xJCANRARJ pic.twitter.com/DdDfu3ZCy2
Sep30
Solar electric vs solar thermal: https://t.co/qFIKsRg82z
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) September 30, 2020