Turbine Engines
Introduction and history
How it works
Current and Future Uses
The history of Gas-turbine engine
In 1232 the Chinese used rockets to frighten enemy soldiers.
Around 1500 A.D. Leonardo da Vinci drew a sketch of a device that rotated due to the effect of hot gasses.
In 1629 another Italian name Giovanni Branca actually developed a device which used to operate machinery.
The first patent for turbine engine.
In 1872 a man by the name of Stolze designed the first true gas turbine.
Charles Curtis the inventor of the Curties steam engine
The General Electric company started their gas turbine division in 1903.
An engineer named Stanford Moss lead most of the projects.
Sir Frank Whittle of Great Britain patented a design for a jet aircraft engine in1930.
Hans von Ohain and Max Hahn, developed and patented their own engine design in 1936.
In 1941 Frank Whittle began fight tests of a turbojet engine of his own design in England.
EFFICIENCY OF THE INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE
Efficiency is the highest for a small range of values of torque and rotational speed--those in the darker green "sweet spot." At this level of efficiency, if the engine were propelling a vehicle, it might burn eight liters of gasoline per 100 kilometers. A series-type hybrid can be designed so that its engine operates only in this highest-efficiency mode; a parallel hybrid can be designed so that its engine stays within the efficiency represented by the dark and light green regions.
Advantages
Gas turbine engines weigh less, last longer, and break down less often.
They can attain thermal efficiencies in the mid-40s; piston engine efficiencies are in the high-20s and unlikely to go much higher.
They excels from an emissions standpoint: gas turbines with no exhaust treatment whatsoever have lower emissions than spark ignition and compression ignition engines with the best treatment available.
Lastly unlike the spark ignition engine, which has stringent requirements for fuel, the gas turbine can burn a variety of fuels, including not only gasoline but also diesel, home-heating oil, and almost any other liquid or gaseous fuel.
Becoming a Contender
The compressor and turbine would actually consist of multiple stages. The pressure ratio would be low.
Compressor blades could be made from injection-molded, fiber-reinforced composite, while the compressor, turbine rotor, combustor, and turbine housings would be made of ceramic.
A ceramic regenerator would recover heat from the compressed gas, reducing the amount of fuel that must be burned. Such an engine would be outstandingly responsive, capable of the quick acceleration that drivers have come to expect.
Turbine Problems
Huge investments have been made in the spark-ignition engine.
It is manufactured at astonishingly low cost and, in general, performs superbly. Also the real cost of gasoline, adjusted for inflation, is at or close to an all-time low.
Thus even an 80-mile-per-gallon gas turbine car would offer only a moderate economic advantage over conventional vehicles, many of which now deliver 30 to 40 mpg.
In the near future, gas turbine engines make sense for some niche markets, such as large trucks and buses. Such large vehicles now must use diesel engines; compared with diesels, gas turbines offer greatly reduced emissions, lower noise, lighter weight, and lower maintenance requirements. But until demand is large enough to justify mass production, unit costs will be high.