Method and apparatus for using nucleate steam bubbles in steam and/or gas compression

摘要

A turbine apparatus having a stator and a rotor mounted for rotation relative to the stator. The stator has at least one groove facing the rotor and the rotor has at least one groove facing the stator, the direction of each of the rotor grooves intersecting the dirction of a corresponding one of the stator grooves to form a channel for receiving a ball driven by a propelling fluid to cause the rotor to rotate as the ball travels along the channel from an inlet to an outlet thereof. A return passage returns the ball from the channel outlet to the channel inlet in response to gravity, a portion of the propelling fluid, or a moving mechanical element. The stator groove may be straight and the rotor groove cirved or the tator groove may be curved and the rotor groove straight or both the stator and the rotor grooves may be curved.