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A turbine (/ˈtɜːrbaɪn/ or /ˈtɜːrbɪn/) (from the Greek τύρβη, tyrbē, or Latin turbo, meaning vortex)[1][2] is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced can be used for generating electrical power when combined with a generator.[3] A turbine is a turbomachine with at least one moving part called a rotor assembly, which is a shaft or drum with blades attached. Moving fluid acts on the blades so that they move and impart rotational energy to the rotor.
Gas, steam, and water turbines have a casing around the blades that contains and controls the working fluid.
The word "turbine" was coined in 1822 by the French mining engineer Claude Burdin from the Greek τύρβη, tyrbē, meaning "vortex" or "whirling". Benoit Fourneyron, a former student of Claude Burdin, built the first practical water turbine. Credit for invention of the steam turbine is given both to Anglo-Irish engineer Sir Charles Parsons (1854–1931) for invention of the reaction turbine, and to Swedish engineer Gustaf de Laval (1845–1913) for invention of the impulse turbine. Modern steam turbines frequently employ both reaction and impulse in the same unit, typically varying the degree of reaction and impulse from the blade root to its periphery.
- ^ "turbine"."turbid". Online Etymology Dictionary.
- ^ τύρβη. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
- ^ Munson, Bruce Roy, T. H. Okiishi, and Wade W. Huebsch. "Turbomachines." Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics. 6th ed. Hoboken, NJ: J. Wiley & Sons, 2009. Print.