Turbo-machinery

Turbomachinery, in mechanical engineering, describes machines that transfer energy between a rotor and a fluid, including both turbines and compressors. While a turbine transfers energy from a fluid to a rotor, a compressor transfers energy from a rotor to a fluid.

These two types of machines are governed by the same basic relationships including Newton's second Law of Motion and Euler's pump and turbine equation for compressible fluids. Centrifugal pumps are also turbomachines that transfer energy from a rotor to a fluid, usually a liquid, while turbines and compressors usually work with a gas.

The first use of turbomachines were technically water wheels between the 3rd and 1st century BCE, credited to the people in the Mediterranean region (see more at water wheel). The first real modern turbomachines did not appear until the late 1880’s. It was not until the industrial revolution, however, steam power started to be utilized with reciprocating engines and turbines, which opened up the potential of steam power. The first impulse type turbine was created by Carl Gustaf de Laval in 1883. This was closely followed by the first practical reaction type turbine in 1884, built by Charles Parsons. Parsons’ first design was a multi-stage axial-flow unit, which George Westinghouse acquired and began manufacturing in 1895, while General Electric acquired de Laval’s designs in 1897. Since then, development has skyrocketed from Parsons’ early design, producing 0.746 kW, to modern nuclear steam turbines producing upwards of 1500 MW. Today, steam turbines account for roughly 90% of electrical power generated in the United States. The first patents for gas turbines were filed in 1791 by John Barber. Then the first functioning industrial gas turbines were used in the late 1890’s to power street lights (Meher-Homji, 2000).

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