Chapter 131 - 129 Blade-Free Turbine

Words : 1185 Updated : Sep 17th, 2025

The rekindling of old feelings between old lovers is ultimately just an interlude; survival is the theme of this apocalypse. For Chen Xin, he no longer needs to worry about how to survive. The emergence of hot spring water has greatly increased the heat energy available from the geothermal pump, to the extent that even if Chen Xin shuts down the equipment, the warming of the groundwater can maintain the shelter at a temperature of around 13~16℃. If it weren’t for the need to maintain the greenhouse temperature, the geothermal pump Chen Xin just made might even be somewhat redundant. However, this has given him a new idea, which is to use the heat from the geothermal pump to generate electricity, as he had thought before. This is not difficult to achieve technically; it only requires attaching a heat recovery device to the heat dissipation pipe and using this heat to perform thermal energy conversion, converting it into electrical energy. As for the means of converting thermal energy into electrical energy, a turbine commonly used in thermal power plants would suffice to complete the task. Speaking of turbines, Chen Xin was once particularly fascinated by geek projects during his university days and had transformed a blower for an air mattress and discarded CDs into a Tesla turbine capable of powering a light bulb in his dorm room. Although this thing had no practical significance, completely relying on the blower to drive the impeller to do work, overall, the device was indeed made, and the process of creating it was not complicated. Chen Xin still has the drawings he used back then on his computer. The Tesla turbine is a turbine invented by the Federation’s legendary physicist Nikola Tesla. This turbine’s efficiency is much higher than traditional blade-style turbines, and Nikola Tesla once dreamed of using it for geothermal power generation. Of course, although this technology looks promising, it still faces numerous constraints in practical applications. Consequently, since Nikola Tesla invented it over a hundred years ago, its practical applications have remained few and far between. The main reason restricting the promotion and application of this technology is that the rotor inside must be composed of discs that are thin enough and have smooth enough surfaces arranged closely to form a rotor large enough to allow the rotor to spin rapidly powered by the boundary layer effect of fluid flowing through it. This undoubtedly imposes high requirements on the materials for making the discs, which must be both lightweight and sturdy. Moreover, a bladeless turbine has a major issue where the efficiency decreases as the load increases, and to achieve a sufficiently high speed, the fluid flow through the rotor must be as small as possible. However, none of this poses a problem for Chen Xin. With the system’s help, making the rotor is not an issue, and all Chen Xin needs is a small generator to meet his shelter’s electricity needs, where neither the load nor the fluid flow will be too large. —————————————— "Ah Xin, what are you making?" Qin Lan looked at Chen Xin continually processing a metal material on the workbench into thin circular metal discs, feeling very curious. "I’m making a turbine. I plan to use the excess heat from the geothermal pump to generate electricity, which requires a turbine." Hearing Qin Lan’s inquiry, Chen Xin explained to her while not stopping his work. Actually, Chen Xin is not the one processing these circular metal discs; but in Qin Lan’s eyes, Chen Xin appears to be doing the processing by himself. With the system’s help, the metal material is processed into thin paper-like metal discs, assembled together, and then fitted with a main shaft in the middle, the rotor of the bladeless turbine is considered done. Qin Lan watched Chen Xin work seriously and did not disturb him; she just leaned on the workbench next to him, quietly watching him work. There’s a saying that men who work seriously are the most handsome, and Qin Lan’s gaze toward Chen Xin at the moment undoubtedly proves this saying. But Chen Xin did not notice the admiration in Qin Lan’s eyes; he only placed the assembled rotor into the casing. After assembling the outer shell of the whole turbine and checking it over to ensure there were no problems, Chen Xin then manually rotated the rotor to check its operation before connecting the casing to the gearbox. Although the bladeless turbine’s speed is high, its torque is not large; to achieve sufficient output power, lowering the speed with a gearbox to increase the transmission shaft’s torque is necessary. This is not a complicated process; a set of planetary gears can solve the problem. As for the generator part, it’s even simpler, as the principle of cutting magnetic lines to generate electricity is understood even by middle school students. Once all the parts are assembled and a generator connected to the bladeless turbine is completed, the next step is installation. "Ah Lan, help me move it over there." The completed generator is quite heavy, so Chen Xin had to ask Qin Lan for help. The two of them lifted the generator next to the geothermal pump and placed it down. Qin Lan curiously asked, "Where does this need to be installed?" "Just connect the pipes to the condenser. The airflow in the pipes can absorb the heat emitted by the condenser as it passes through, causing the air to expand and form a high-speed airflow that drives the turbine’s rotor to turn." Chen Xin explained and then opened the system interface, choosing to consume survival points to install the equipment. The system installation is much more convenient and faster than manual installation by Chen Xin, even directly routing the wiring and connecting the generator to the distribution room. As Chen Xin adjusted the output power of the geothermal pump and simultaneously turned on the turbine’s switch, the generator started to operate. "It actually started running!" Watching the turbine and generator connected to the condenser move as expected, Qin Lan couldn’t help but exclaim, "Ah Xin, you’re amazing!" "Anyone who knows a bit of mechanical processing and physics can make this. It’s not a big deal." Chen Xin shook his head, not feeling proud of Qin Lan’s compliment: "If it weren’t for the appearance of hot springs underground causing the ground temperature to rise, this system’s power generation would barely be enough to keep the geothermal pump running itself. But with the ground temperature rising now, the excess heat can convert to more electricity. If the generator’s power is a bit higher, it should be able to maintain my electricity consumption here. I’m just worried that the increase in groundwater temperature is temporary. If the cracked groundwater layer seals up again and the temperature drops..." Saying this, Chen Xin couldn’t help but show a little worried expression. "Ah Xin, you’re too pessimistic. Think more positively; maybe this is permanent? You might even have a hot spring to enjoy in the future." Qin Lan laughed and encouraged Chen Xin, hoping he’d be more optimistic.

Chapter 131 - 129 Blade-Free Turbine

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