Editing Tesla turbine (section)

==Applications==
[[file:TeslaTurbine-00.png|thumb|A Tesla turbine with the top removed]]

Tesla's patents state that the device was intended for the use of [[fluid]]s as motive agents, as distinguished from the propulsion or [[compression (physical)|compression]] of fluids (though it can also be used for those purposes). As of 2016, the Tesla turbine has not seen widespread commercial use. The Tesla pump, however, has been commercially available since 1982<ref name="discflo"/> and is used to pump fluids that are abrasive, viscous, shear-sensitive, loaded with solids, or are otherwise difficult to handle with other pumps. Tesla himself did not procure a large contract for production. The main disadvantage was poor knowledge of [[materials science|material characteristics]] and behaviors at high [[temperature]]s. The best [[metallurgy]] of the day could not prevent the turbine disks from moving and warping unacceptably during operation.

Many amateur experiments have been conducted using Tesla turbines with [[compressed air]] or [[steam turbine|steam as the power source]]. Disc warping has been ameliorated by using new materials such as carbon fiber.

One proposed application for the device is a [[Pump|waste pump]], in factories and mills where normal [[stator|vane]]-type [[turbine]] pumps typically become fouled.

Applications of the Tesla turbine as a multiple-disk centrifugal [[ventricular assist device|blood pump]] have yielded promising results due to the low peak shear force.<ref name="Miller-Etter-Dorsi"/> [[Biomedical engineering]] research on such applications has continued into the 21st century.<ref name="Manning-Miller"/>

The device functions as a pump if a similar set of disks and a housing with an [[involute]] shape (versus circular for the turbine) are used. In this configuration, a motor is attached to the shaft. The fluid enters near the center, is energized by the disks, and exits at the periphery. The Tesla turbine does not use friction in the conventional sense, rather using adhesion (the [[Coandă effect]]) and [[viscosity]] instead. It uses the [[boundary-layer]] effect on the disc blades.