How It Works
What Makes a Tesla Disk Pump Different
The following describes boundary layer and viscous drag phenomena, which are two properties of fluids TESLA DISK PUMPS™ use to transfer energy from the motor to the fluid being pumped.
- Fluid is confined between twin rotating shrouds and rotates with the shrouds.
- Because the layer of fluid immediately adjacent to the shroud remains "fixed" relative to that shroud face, subsequent layers of fluid resist separation from the adjacent layer and the entire fluid mass begins to rotate.
- As the fluid gains energy, it moves outward on the TESLA DISK gaining additional energy and continuing on.
- The actual path of the fluid through the pump becomes a spiral path. TESLA DISK PUMPS™ display similar (but not identical) diameter, RPM, and pressure relationships to that of conventional impeller pumps.
- The reason for any departure is that fluid velocity is not fixed by the local disk velocity but is rather a function of disk spacing, fluid viscosity and density, radial velocity, and disk velocity.
- The flow in the rotating disk falls somewhere between forced vortex and free vortex circulation.
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The top four performance advantages of the TESLA DISK Rotor are:
- Low NPSH requirement
- Ability to handle viscous fluids at higher efficiencies than a centrifugal
- Resistance to wear from abrasive liquids
- Larger solids-handling without plugging