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Back in the Early 1900’s, Nikola Tesla improved disc turbine technology and patented his own turbine engines at a time when piston engines were becoming the mainstay of motive power in cars & aircraft.
Manufacturers had already institutionalized piston engines in production because they were cheap to produce and delivered the power for the booming auto industry.
Even though Tesla demonstrated the superiority of his engine in terms of ease of manufacturing and power density, it could not compete with the overall cheapness of piston-powered automobiles.
The main reason is that most people back then, as well as now, do not understand the technical characteristics of the Tesla engine.
The main difference between piston engines & the disc turbine is torque—or the torque curve. Piston engines, like series wound electric motors, deliver substantial low-end torque.
Conventional turbines deliver much less low-end torque, but rapidly build torque as they spool up.
Disc turbines have almost no torque at all until they spool up to about 50% of their rated speed—at which time the torque value suddenly spikes to 100% and gradually decreases as rotor speed reaches maximum ratings.
Both pistons and conventional turbines exhibit what we call analog torque and power curves—where torque and horsepower increase steadily. This is similar to how an analog
power amplifier works.
On the other hand, the disc turbine (like a parallel wound electric motor) exhibits a torque response similar to a digital gate—in which there is a rapid change in power from zero to maximum in one fast step.
The disc turbine, therefore, must toggle between idle and maximum loaded power in one quick step.
Automobiles of Tesla’s day were made as cheaply as possible to jump-start the new industry. Henry Ford was the man of the hour to get the auto industry off the ground with cheap Model T’s. These cars used the cheapest geared drivetrains possible, so they were completely dependent on engines that could deliver low-end torque to accelerate them through the analog power curve.
Tesla showed that his engine was best suited for hybrid mode rather than direct drive mode. Again, this was due to the digital characteristics of his engine.
Today all vehicles are moving in the hybrid mode direction, which also works best with digital mode engines. Turbines, in particular disc turbines, are the only engines with a future.
Tesla’s turbine—a digital engine for the digital age!
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