Without a switch, fluid or flame can flow in one direction. What is the principle of the Tesla valve?

What should you do if you want to transport fluid substances such as gas or liquid to a certain place while avoiding backflow and controlling the flow rate?

It's very simple. You just need to install a valve and use a switch to control and adjust it. So what if there is no switch? Yes, more than 100 years ago, a great scientist designed a special valve that can ensure the one-way flow of fluid without a switch. This person is Tesla, and the valve he invented is called the "Tesla valve". We should be very familiar with Tesla. He is undoubtedly a legendary scientist. In his lifetime, he obtained more than 1,000 invention patents. Among them, the most well-known scientific achievements are: the invention of alternating current, wireless energy transmission, the development and application of radio, etc.

Even in modern times, there are still many people who worship Tesla. Some entrepreneurs even name their own electric cars after him out of admiration for Tesla, making the name more widely known.

Unfortunately, when we open many search software and enter the word "Tesla", we can't see the figure of this scientist on the first page, but only see cars. Most of Nikola Tesla's inventions have long been well known. In addition to those well-known inventions, there are some less popular inventions that can actually be called classics, and they are likely to be discovered for new uses in the future. For example, the "Tesla valve" we mentioned is such an invention. What is a Tesla valve? It is a valve that can ensure the one-way flow of fluids such as liquids and gases without the need for a switch.

How does the Tesla valve ensure one-way flow of liquid?

Just take a close look at the cross-section of the Tesla valve and you will understand the reason. The Tesla valve uses a special circuit design. When the fluid passes through the Tesla valve in the forward direction, the fluid will be divided into two paths at each circuit port, and then the two paths will converge at the next intersection and accelerate. On the contrary, if the fluid flows into the Tesla valve in the reverse direction, the fluid will also be divided into two paths at the first intersection and converge again at the second intersection. The difference is that this time, the flow directions of the two paths are opposite, so a great resistance is formed. Therefore, the Tesla valve can only pass forward, and it is difficult to reverse the flow. Although the design of the Tesla valve is exquisite, is it necessary to make it so complicated when it can be solved by installing a valve?

Tesla valves have long been considered to have little practical value and have not been taken seriously, but this is changing. In fact, Tesla valves have great potential for application in the field of fluid transportation.

For example, there is a type of fish living in the river, which we call backwater fish. They live in the lower reaches of the river, but every year when the flood season comes, they will swim back upstream to lay eggs. After the eggs hatch, they will swim downstream and return to the lower reaches to live. This process is not a problem, but because humans build dams, they block the way back for backwater fish. So what should we do? Humans have come up with a solution, which is to build fish ladders, which is to build a staircase for fish to climb up.

Although the construction of fish ladders has opened up a way for migratory fish to return home, there has long been a problem with fish ladders, that is, the size of the water flow.

There are many kinds of fish that migrate upstream in rivers, and their sizes vary. When the water flow is strong, some fish find it difficult to complete the task of climbing the ladder upstream, and when the water flow is weak, the buoyancy is insufficient and they cannot drag the larger fish. So someone thought of applying the Tesla valve to the construction of fish ladders. Now the fish ladder in the Pichoux Canyon in Switzerland is built based on the principle of the Tesla valve. The river water flows backward from the upstream into the "Tesla valve fish ladder". Due to the great resistance, the water flow rate is very slow, and the greater the flow, the greater the pressure and the slower the flow rate, so it not only guarantees the water volume but also limits the flow rate.

The application of Tesla valve in fish ladder construction can only be regarded as a small test of the Tesla valve. Scientists have found that the structure of Tesla valve not only works on fluids such as gas and liquid, but also on flames.

The characteristic of Tesla valve is that when it passes in the reverse direction, the greater the pressure, the greater the resistance, the slower the speed, and even stops completely. When it passes in the forward direction, the greater the pressure, the faster the speed. When the flame passes through the Tesla valve in the forward direction, it will produce a significant acceleration effect. What is the use of accelerating the flame? It is very useful. How do our rockets fly into the sky? It depends on the injection of flames, and increasing the injection speed can save fuel. Since it can be used in rockets, it should also be able to be used in jet aircraft. The application field has risen to aerospace engineering, so we say that the application potential of Tesla valve is actually very large.

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