Gadget Freak Case 143: Tesla Turbine Creates Liquid Electricity

Design News Staff -- Design News, June 1, 2009

If your electricity fails in a post-apocalyptic world, you can use water pressure to generate electricity. Travis Lipstein and fellow students in a mechatronics class at Colorado State University used a Tesla turbine - based on the work of Nikola Tesla in the early 1900s - to turn water into electricity. The water pressure forces a shaft in the turbine to rotate. The rotating shaft is connected to a generator. The water flow around the turbine is controlled by valves. The rotational speed is communicated to the user via a LCD interface on the system's control panel, which lets the user know when sufficient power is being generated by the turbine.
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» Submit Feedback

• What is the availabity of drawings for the turbine?

  
  Al Martyka - 2009-5-6 16:20:21 EDT

• Info on system would be of interest - Water flow rate, pressure, generated power (watts), etc.

  
  Frank Cicchiello - 2009-3-6 09:11:23 EDT

• You know the circuitry is awesome but is there anything you could share about the turbine construction?

  
  Steve Cook - 2009-2-6 16:11:37 EDT
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