Gas Turbines And Their Working Principle
What is a Gas Turbine?
A turbine is just like a reversal of an electric fan or centrifugal pump, while energy is used to turn the blades of the fan and impellers of centrifugal pumps to produce the required energy, the turbine blade creates its own energy to be able to turn any mechanical device attached to it.
For this reason, turbines work greatly where a large quantity of power output is needed. There are different types of turbines and the types depend greatly on how the blade of the impellers of the turbine receives its energy, among the types of turbines the following are the most popular types:
Wind turbine
Hydro turbines
Steam turbines
Gas turbines
These turbines had been used for public power supply due to their ability to generate high power output.
However, they still have their limitations which greatly rely on the energy source, for this reason, most countries have been seeking higher power output which may be obtainable through the nuclear power supply.
On the other hand, a gas turbine had been a popular type mostly used in the oil and gas industries, countries with a high quantity of natural gas will find it cheaper to operate their public power supply with gas turbines due to the availability of the gas supply.
Gas turbines can simply be termed as internal combustion engines employing a gas as the working fluid used to turn its shaft or impellers. It conventionally consists of compressors, a combustion chamber, and the turbine (where impellers are located).
A gas turbine can operate by burning either liquid fuel or gas fuel and basically converts pressure energy into mechanical energy. It should be understood that 2/3 of the power is used to drive the compressor and that leaves only 1/3 of productive work output.
Most gas turbines operate on an open cycle in which air is taken from the atmosphere, compressed in a centrifugal or axial-flow compressor, and then fed into a combustion chamber exit temperature low enough to allow the turbine to operate continuously.
If the unit is to produce shaft power, the combustion products are expanded in the turbine to atmospheric pressure. Most of the turbine output is required to operate the compressor; only the remainder is available to supply shaft work to a generator, pump, or another device.
In a jet engine, the turbine is designed to provide just enough output to drive the compressor and auxiliary devices. The stream of gas then leaves the turbine at an intermediate pressure and is fed through a nozzle to produce thrust.
