What is turbine?

Turbine:
A turbine is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow
and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used
for generating electrical power when combined with a generator.

Types
Steam turbines
Gas turbines
Transonic
Contra-rotating
Statorless
Shroudless turbine.
Bladeless turbine
Water turbines
Wind turbine

Explanation
Steam turbine
A steam turbine is a device that extracts thermal energy from
pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its
modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884.

Principle of operation and design

An ideal steam turbine is considered to be an isentropic process, or constant entropy
process, in which the entropy of the steam entering the turbine is equal to the entropy of
the steam leaving the turbine. No steam turbine is truly isentropic, however, with typical
isentropic efficiencies ranging from 20–90% based on the application of the turbine. The
interior of a turbine comprises several sets of blades or buckets. One set of stationary
blades is connected to the casing and one set of rotating blades is connected to the
shaft. The sets intermesh with certain minimum clearances, with the size and
configuration of sets varying to efficiently exploit the expansion of steam at each stage.

Practical thermal efficiency of a steam turbine varies with turbine size, load condition,
gap losses and friction losses. They reach top values up to about 50% in a 1,200 mw
(1,600,000 hp) turbine; smaller ones have a lower efficiency. To maximize turbine
efficiency the steam is expanded, doing work, in a number of stages. These stages are
characterized by how the energy is extracted from them and are known as either
impulse or reaction turbines. Most steam turbines use a mixture of the reaction and
impulse designs: Each stage behaves as either one or the other, but the overall turbine
uses both. Typically, lower pressure sections are reaction type and higher pressure
stages are impulse type.
Gas turbine
A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous
combustion, internal combustion engine. The main elements common to all gas
turbine engines are:

1. An upstream rotating gas compressor;

2. A combustor;
3. A downstream turbine on the same shaft as the compressor.

Explanation:
In an ideal gas turbine, gases undergo four thermodynamic processes:
an isentropic compression, an isobaric (constant pressure) combustion, an isentropic
expansion and heat rejection. Together, these make up the Brayton cycle.

In a real gas turbine, mechanical energy is changed irreversibly (due to internal friction
and turbulence) into pressure and thermal energy when the gas is compressed (in either
a centrifugal or axial compressor). Heat is added in the combustion chamber and
the specific volume of the gas increases, accompanied by a slight loss in pressure.
During expansion through the stator and rotor passages in the turbine, irreversible
energy transformation once again occurs. Fresh air is taken in, in place of the heat
rejection.
If the engine has a power turbine added to drive an industrial generator or a helicopter
rotor, the exit pressure will be as close to the entry pressure as possible with only enough
energy left to overcome the pressure losses in the exhaust ducting and expel the exhaust.
For a turboprop engine there will be a particular balance between propeller power and
jet thrust which gives the most economical operation. In a turbojet engine only enough
pressure and energy is extracted from the flow to drive the compressor and other
components. The remaining high-pressure gases are accelerated through a nozzle to
provide a jet to propel an aircraft.

The smaller the engine, the higher the rotation rate of the shaft(s) must be to attain the
required blade tip speed. Blade-tip speed determines the maximum pressure ratios that
can be obtained by the turbine and the compressor. This, in turn, limits the maximum
power and efficiency that can be obtained by the engine. In order for tip speed to
remain constant, if the diameter of a rotor is reduced by half, the rotational speed must
double. For example, large jet engines operate around 10,000-25,000 rpm, while micro
turbines spin as fast as 500,000 rpm.[23]

Applications:
Racing cars

Buses

Motorcycles

Trains

Tanks
Naval

Water turbine
A water turbine is a rotary machine that converts kinetic energy and potential
energy of water into mechanical work.

Water turbines were developed in the 19th century and were widely used for industrial power
prior to electrical grids. Now they are mostly used for electric power generation. Water
turbines are mostly found in dams to generate electric power from water kinetic energy.
 The runner of the small water turbine

Types of water turbines

Various types of water turbine runners. From left to right: Pelton wheel, two
types of Francis turbine and Kaplan turbine.

Reaction turbines:
 VLH turbine
 Francis turbine
 Kaplan turbine
 Tyson turbine
 Deriaz turbine
 Gorlov helical turbine

Impulse turbine

 Water wheel
 Pelton wheel
 Turgo turbine
 Cross-flow turbine (also known as the Bánki-Michell turbine, or
Ossberger turbine)
 Jonval turbine
 Reverse overshot water-wheel
 Screw turbine
 Barkh Turbine

Wind turbine
A wind turbine, or alternatively referred to as a wind energy converter, is
a device that converts the wind's kinetic energy intoelectrical energy..
 Thorntonbank Wind Farm, using 5 MW turbines REpower 5M in the North Sea off the
coast of Belgium.

Wind turbines are manufactured in a wide range of vertical and horizontal axis. The
smallest turbines are used for applications such as battery charging for auxiliary power
for boats or caravans or to power traffic warning signs. Larger turbines can be used for
making contributions to a domestic power supply while selling unused power back to
the utility supplier via the electrical grid. Arrays of large turbines, known as wind farms,
are becoming an increasingly important source of intermittent renewable energyand are
used by many countries as part of a strategy to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. One
assessment claimed that, as of 2009, wind had the "lowest relative greenhouse gas
emissions, the least water consumption demands and... the most favourable social
impacts" compared to photovoltaic, hydro, geothermal, coal and gas.

Maintenance
Wind turbines need regular maintenance to stay reliable and available. In the best
case turbines are available to generate energy 98% of the time.[71][72]

Modern turbines usually have a small onboard crane for hoisting maintenance tools
and minor components. However, large heavy components like generator, gearbox,
blades and so on are rarely replaced and a heavy lift external crane is needed in
those cases. If the turbine has a difficult access road, a containerized crane can be
lifted up by the internal crane to provide heavier lifting

Largest capacity direct drive

The Enercon E-126 with 7.58 MW and 127 m rotor diameter is the largest direct
drive turbine. However, the turbine is the world's most
powerful onshore-only wind turbine. The turbine has parted rotor blades with 2
sections for transport.

Screw turbine
The screw turbine is a water turbine which uses the principle of
the Archimedean screw to convert the potential energy of water on
an upstream level into work. It may be compared to the water wheel.
The turbine consists of a rotor in the shape of an Archimedean screw which rotates
in a semicircular trough. Water flows into the turbine and its weight presses down
onto the blades of the turbine, which in turn forces the turbine to turn. Water flows
freely off the end of the turbine into the river. The upper end of the screw is
connected to a generator through a gearbox.

Application
12 kW screw turbine at the Cragside estateThe Archimedean screw turbine is applied on
rivers with a relatively low head (from 1 m to 10 m) and on low flows (0.01 m³/s up to
around 10 m³/s on one turbine). Due to the construction and slow movement of the
blades of the turbine, the turbine is considered to be friendly to aquatic wildlife. It is
often labelled as "fishfriendly". The Archimedean turbine may be used in situations
where there is a stipulation for the preservation and care of the environment and
wildlife.

Uses of turbine
 Almost all electrical power on Earth is generated with a turbine of some type.
Very high efficiency steam turbines harness around 40% of the thermal energy,
with the rest exhausted as waste heat.

 Most jet engines rely on turbines to supply mechanical work from their
working fluid and fuel as do all nuclear ships and power plants.
 Turbines are often part of a larger machine. A gas turbine, for example, may
refer to an internal combustion machine that contains a turbine, ducts,
compressor, combustor, heat-exchanger, fan and (in the case of one designed
to produce electricity) an alternator. Combustion turbines and steam turbines
may be connected to machinery such as pumps and compressors, or may be
used for propulsion of ships, usually through an intermediate gearbox to reduce
rotary speed.

 Reciprocating piston engines such as aircraft engines can use a turbine

powered by their exhaust to drive an intake-air compressor, a configuration
known as aturbocharger (turbine supercharger) or, colloquially, a "turbo".

 Turbines can have very high power density (i.e. the ratio of power to weight, or
power to volume). This is because of their ability to operate at very high speeds.
TheSpace Shuttle main engines used turbopumps (machines consisting of a
pump driven by a turbine engine) to feed the propellants (liquid oxygen and
liquid hydrogen) into the engine's combustion chamber. The liquid hydrogen
turbopump is slightly larger than an automobile engine (weighing
approximately 700 lb) and produces nearly 70,000 hp (52.2 MW).

 Turboexpanders are widely used as sources of refrigeration in industrial

processes.

 Military jet engines, as a branch of gas turbines, have recently been used as
primary flight controller in post-stall flight using jet deflections that are also
called thrust vectoring.The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has also
conducted a study about civilizing such thrust vectoring systems to recover
jetliners from catastrophes.