特斯拉引擎為一種藉由氣體之黏滯性帶動旋轉平板，將空氣的動能轉換成推動引擎扭力的裝置，這個引擎是由我們所熟知的電磁及機械發明家特斯拉所發明。此種引擎至今尚未普及到機械產業之中，原因在於其能量來源以壓縮空氣為主，並具有高轉速、低扭矩之特性，使得使用上有它的限制。然而，隨著環保意識抬頭，此種以空氣推動之引擎逐漸受到重視，其運轉後不會有任何的副產物，且純粹以流體動力的特性，做力學能的轉換，是非常環保的能量轉換方式。根據前人研究所得，特斯拉引擎可以達到極高的理論效率。本研究藉由實驗與模擬的方式，期望將特斯拉引擎應用於風能擷取上。藉由改變特斯拉引擎各種設計方式，以求得於特定操作點下，可能達到的高效能運轉。並將引擎設計參數與自然風能特性相互耦合，最終發展出以風能為主要動力來源之特斯拉引擎。

Tesla engine is a device with disks rotated by the viscosity of the air to transfers the air’s kinetic energy into output torque. This engine is invented by the well-known electro-magnetic and mechanical inventor, Tesla Nikola. However, this engine is not popular in the mechanical industrial field. The reason which limits the application of the engine is the energy source for Tesla engine is mainly compressed air and the character of the high rotating speed and low torque. However, with the enhancement of the environmental protection consciousness, this air engine becomes more and more important. This device transfer air energy to mechanical energy through the mechanism of fluid dynamics, so there is no by-product after operating. This transferring is considered to be very green. According to the research, Tesla engine can be extremely efficient in theory. This research applies the engine to wind energy capture by the experiment and the simulation. Through changing the way of design, we hope to operate the engine efficiently at specific operating point. We couple the engine’s character with nature wind in order to develop a Tesla engine for wind energy capture.

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