Glad I found this channel. There must be losses in radial or axial flow turbines due to the diffuser structures. Could it be possibly beneficial to combine these stages with compressor stages by magnetically or mechanically coupling successive stages, perhaps with a 1-to-(-1) gearing? I'm particularly considering this for an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system in the context of waste heat recovery for semi trucks, aiming to improve fuel economy. (I'm not an engineer, just curious!) The one waste heat recovery systems, for this application, I’ve seen used twin screws instead of turbines. My thought was to explore using a radial outflow turbine for its compact design and ease of manufacture. I realize that adding magnetic or mechanical coupling to compressor stages would complicate production, but I'm interested in whether this could offer any advantages. As I recall the conversion efficiency for this application was less then 15% and somewhere I saw numbers like 6% to 10% expected. Seems like it might be hard to justify.
