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A turbine is a rotating mechanical device that collects energy from a fluid flow and turns it into usable work (from the Greek, tyrb, or Latin turbo, meaning vortex). When coupled with a generator, the work generated by a turbine may be utilized to generate electrical power. A turbine is a turbomachine having at least one moving component, the rotor assembly, which consists of a shaft or drum with blades attached. The blades rotate as a result of the moving fluid, imparting rotational energy to the rotor. Windmills and waterwheels are examples of early turbines.

The working fluid is contained and controlled by a casing around the blades in gas, steam, and water turbines. Anglo-Irish engineer Sir Charles Parsons (1854–1931) is credited with the creation of the reaction turbine, whereas Swedish engineer Gustaf de Laval (1845–1913) is credited with the discovery of the impulse turbine. In modern steam turbines, both reaction and impulse are commonly used in the same unit, with the degree of response and impulse changing from the blade root to the blade periphery. In the first century AD, Hero of Alexandria proved the turbine concept in an aeolipile, and Vitruvius described them around 70 BC.

In 1822, French mining engineer Claude Burdin invented the term “turbine” from the Greek tyrb, which means “vortex” or “whirling,” in a letter titled “Des turbines hydrauliques ou machines rotatoires à great vitesse,” which he presented to the Académie royale des sciences in Paris. The first functional water turbine was developed by Benoit Fourneyron, a former student of Claude Burdin.

Potential energy (pressure head) and kinetic energy are both presents in a working fluid (the velocity head). It’s possible that the fluid is compressible or incompressible. Turbines capture this energy using a number of physical principles:

The direction of flow of a high velocity fluid or gas jet is changed using impulse turbines. The resultant impulse spins the turbine and reduces the kinetic energy of the fluid flow. The fluid or gas does not change the pressure in the turbine blades (the moving blades), as it does in a steam or gas turbine; instead, all of the pressure decreases occur in the stationary blades (the nozzles). By accelerating the fluid using a nozzle before it reaches the turbine, the fluid’s pressure head is converted to a velocity head. This technique is used only by Pelton wheels and de Laval turbines. Because the fluid jet is produced by the nozzle before reaching the rotor blades, impulse turbines do not require a pressure casement around the rotor. The energy transmission for impulse turbines is described by Newton’s second law. When the flow is low, and the intake pressure is high, impulse turbines are the most efficient.

Reaction turbines generate torque by reacting to the pressure or mass of the gas or fluid. As the gas or fluid travels through the turbine rotor blades, the pressure of the gas or fluid varies. A pressure casement or the turbine must be entirely submerged in the fluid flow to confine the working fluid while it works on the turbine stage(s) (such as with wind turbines). The casing holds and guides the working fluid, as well as maintaining the suction imparted by the draft tube in water turbines. This is how Francis turbines and most steam turbines work. Multiple turbine stages are often utilized for compressible working fluids to efficiently harness the expanding gas. The energy transmission for reaction turbines is described by Newton’s third law. Reaction turbines are better suited to applications with greater flow rates or where the fluid head (upstream pressurization) is higher.

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