Turbines extract energy from fluids and are used to generate electricity. Gas turbines are flexible and can rotate at high speeds, allowing for a lot of energy in a small space. Chaining turbines together can increase efficiency to over 60%. Mechanical engineers study their workings.
A turbine is a type of engine that can extract energy from a fluid, such as water, steam, air or flue gases. It has a set of blades, typically steel but sometimes ceramic, that can withstand higher temperatures. The fluid goes out one end, pushing the blades and causing them to spin, then is expelled out the other end. The fluid leaves the engine with less energy than it entered: part of the difference is captured by the turbine.
Turbines are at the heart of civilization, as virtually every form of electricity is generated by them. When people say coal power, nuclear power, hydrothermal power, etc., they are referring to the use of an energy source to agitate a gas which then drives the blades and generates power. It is one of the most common types of engines, where an engine is simply defined as something that takes an input and generates an output. Along with heat engines and motors, turbines make up the vast majority of dynamic machinery.
Gas turbines are one of the more flexible types and are used to power a variety of mobile machinery above a certain size, jets being the most famous application. Even the Space Shuttle uses one to combine fuel at incredible speeds. Because they can rotate at extreme speeds, gas turbines allow a huge amount of energy to be packed into a relatively small space. A typical engine of this type operates between 3,000 and 10,000 rpm, and smaller variants can exceed 100,000 rpm. One the size of a recently built matchbox spins at 500,000 rpm and generates 100 watts. Scientists want to push them to run at a million rpm or more, but making that possible without melting the assembly together can be tricky.
To extract maximum efficiency from the turbines, they are often chained together. This can lead to efficiency levels of 60% or higher, quite surprising in the world of thermodynamics. Understanding how these engines work in detail is the job of mechanical engineers, although anyone who works with machines is probably familiar with the basics.
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