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Tesla Turbine Fan

Quieter, more efficient
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Instead of using blades to move air, use a Tesla Turbine.

This would be in any air moving use in a house, including the air mover for a central heating/cooling system, or in portable personal comfort fans.

Because there's no blades to "chop up" the air, there's almost no turbulence, and thus there's almost no fan induced noise, no matter how much air is being moved.

I know that some people enjoy the noise made by a fan moving air, and can easily fall asleep with a fan on in the room, but I'm not one of them.

(Sure, it's a little bit early to be thinking about fans... it's still early spring, and quite chilly where I am, but when I've got an idea, I've got to write it down, and I might as well write it here.)

goldbb, Apr 04 2009

The video. Enjoy.... http://www.phys.was...0(DivX%205.2.1).avi
Straight to the video. Even worse than i thought. Seriously half baked. [WcW, Apr 06 2009]

[link]






       "why" you ask? Because the Tesla turbine isn't designed to efficiently move a large volume of air. Simply not a good design for the purpose and far more complicated and heavy/bulky compared to a fan. As for your interpretation of the merits of the turbine design I suspect that you are also incorrect. Turbulence, quite so, it functions by using turbulence to induce. You replace the "fan noise" with a high pitched whine. (the idea of it being silent no matter how much air is being moved is beyond ludicrous). It is simply not a good design for moving air without a substantial change in density.
WcW, Apr 04 2009
  

       /Turbulence, quite so, it functions by using turbulence to induce./   

       Subject, verb, object? Which is which?   

       Anyway, Tesla turbines function by using adhesion between the air and the disks to transfer kinetic energy from the disks to the air; the air's linear momentum carries it outward toward the edge of the disk. All of this is done with laminar (turbulence free) flows.   

       Only after the air reaches the edge of the disk, and is redirected towards its destination by the stator, can it become turbulent flow, and with the right shape stator, even this could be nearly noiseless.   

       If you're hearing a high pitched whine, that's being caused by the motor you're using to spin the turbine.
goldbb, Apr 05 2009
  

       do you speak from experience?
WcW, Apr 06 2009
  

       I got to play with such a fan at a Telsa expo a few years back. It only made a very faint sound, but then again, it was just a small demo unit and not moving hairdryer volumes of air.   

       An electrostatic 'fan' would be silent...
TIB, Apr 07 2009
  

       [goldbb], you're in for a wonderful idea. Just look at the dynamics how the emergency exit of jumbo jets work, then you got the missing piece of your idea. Forget that idea [WcW] is pointing out, it could be of his inexperience that he brought the video showing a Tesla Turbine per se, considering that we should be talking in here about Tesla Pump.   

       Anyway, here's how it ought to work: The Jumbo Jet's inflatable emergency exit works in boosting the forceful jet with venturi effect to force enough air inside quickly. (Outside air, through the jet sides, is brought into contact with the rushing inflating jetstream from a gas turbine such that it would fill in the gap between the upstream and downstream hypervelocity particles that creates negative pressure. The fast moving exhaust gas effectively transfer most of its kinetic energy to the traversing onrushing air filling the vacuumm created from the deflected leading air, thus more air inflating the device.)   

       In similar fashion, your compact/minature tesla pump would generate very fast jet stream that would suck in more outside air to flow together as one final air stream of moderate speed through an acoustically-designed muffling louver having divergent flare. That ought to solve the volumetric capacity with the added bonus of miniaturization of rotating components and elimination of bulky grills. Moreover, the flare could be designed as collapsible and the louvers could be swivelled/revolved for wind oscillation.
rotary, Apr 07 2009
  
      
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