Turbines in action

Introduction

 Most of the electrical generators are powered by turbines. Turbines are the primemovers of civilisation. Steam and Gas turbines share in the electrical power generation is about 75%. About 20% of power is generated by hydraulic turbines and hence thier importance. Rest of 5% only is by other means of generation. Hydraulic power depends on renewable source and hence is ever lasting. It is also non polluting in terms of non generation of carbon dioxide.

Turbines in action

Broadly speaking, we divide turbines into four kinds according to the type of fluid that drives them: water, wind, steam, and gas. Although all four types work in essentially the same way- spinning around as the fluid moves against them-they are subtly different and have to be engineered in very different ways. Steam turbines, for example, turn incredibly quickly because steam is produced under high-pressure. Wind turbines that make electricity turn relatively slowly (mainly for safety reasons), so they need to be huge to capture decent amounts of energy. Gas turbines need to be made from specially resilient alloys because they work at such high temperatures. Water turbines are often very big because they have to extract energy from an entire river, dammed and diverted to flow past them.