A rotary engine in which high-pressure steam spins bladed wheels, invented in its modern form by Charles Parsons in 1884. Steam turbines drive the generators of nearly every thermal power station, whether the steam is raised by coal, gas, biomass or nuclear fission, which makes the steam turbine the single most widely used electricity-generating machine ever built.
Facts
Classification
MaturityTRL 9: Actual System Proven in Operational Environment 1 Technology Type Invented Year Connections
Associated With
Source United States Energy Information Administration Official Site
Source Grace's Guide to British Industrial History
Developed By
Source Grace's Guide to British Industrial History
Uses Source
Steam turbines also run on steam raised by gas, biomass and nuclear heat; coal was the fuel of their first century.
Source Encyclopedia Britannica
Every operating nuclear power plant generates through steam turbines.
Source World Nuclear Association Information Library
Sources
1. Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.britannica.com/technology/steam-turbine, summary of the Turbine article Steam turbines section
A steam turbine consists of a rotor resting on bearings and enclosed in a cylindrical casing. The rotor is turned by steam impinging against attached vanes or blades on which it exerts a force in the tangential direction.
Technology maturity, entity description
Steam turbines drive the generators of nearly every thermal power station, whether the steam is raised by coal, gas, biomass or nuclear fission, which makes the steam turbine the single most widely used electricity-generating machine ever built.
- Uses Source: Coal
View the Source World Nuclear Association Information Library
United States Energy Information Administration Official Site
US Energy Information AdministrationAssociated With: Electric Generator, Electricity explained, How electricity is generatedQuote, Associated With: Electric Generator, Electricity explained, How electricity is generated
Most U.S. and world electricity generation is from electric power plants that use a turbine to drive electricity generators.
Grace's Guide to British Industrial History
Grace's Guide LtdDeveloped By: Charles Parsons, Charles Algernon Parsons
His steam turbine patent of 1884 was comparable in importance to that of James Watt's in 1769.
Associated With: Parsons Invents the Steam Turbine, Charles Algernon Parsons
His steam turbine patent of 1884 was comparable in importance to that of James Watt's in 1769.
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