Gas turbines summary

A gas turbine extracts energy from a flow of hot gas produced by combustion of gas or fuel oil in a stream of compressed air. It has an upstream air compressor mechanically coupled to a downstream turbine and a combustion chamber in between. Energy is released when compressed air is mixed with fuel and ignited in the combustor. The resulting gases are directed over the turbine's blades, spinning the turbine, and mechanically powering the compressor. Finally, the gases are passed through a nozzle, generating additional thrust by accelerating the hot exhaust gases by expansion back to atmospheric pressure.
Energy is extracted in the form of shaft power, compressed air and thrust, in any combination.

The advantages of a gas turbine over a conventionnal piston engine are the very high power-to-weight ratio, the simpler design, the level of reliability and far less operating vibration. On the other hand there are a few disadvantages. The cost of manufacture and operation is, compared to a similar performance piston engine, much greater and the fuel consumption is normally much higher (unless in continual operation).

Today's gas turbines are used in cruising or container ships, cars, trains, tanks and even in superbikes! In 1963, Chrysler built 60 coupe powered by a 130hp turbine engine. In 1967 STP- Paxton built a turbo racecar for the Indianapolis 500 race. And today, Rolls-Royce is powering the fastest land vehicule at a record holding mach 1.02. Concerning trains, the Turbotrain was born in 1967 to be used on France's intercity lines. It ran during 2 decades and led to the developpement of today's TGV. Regarding motorcycle, MTT turbines developped the MTT superbike, a 320 hp helicopter engine propelled 2 wheeler. First built in 1999, it holds a record-breaking 227 mph! This is to fast for furious. But I think that the biggest success of gas turbines out of the aeronautic field is the marine field. The most powerful diesel engine in the world achieves 100 000 hp, but weights more than 2300 tons and is 89 feet long and 44 feet high. With that kind of engine on a container ship, you lose space and weigh capacity. The solution?
The Rolls-Royce Marine MT-30 gas turbine. Making nearly 54 000 hp , measuring no more that 28 feet and weighting under 6 tons, two of these simply outperformes any pistons engine you could throw at them.

In the future, those gas turnines will become smaller, more efficient, and could even, someday, be on sale as home generators or as home heating devices.

Gas turbines

A gas turbine extracts energy from a flow of hot gas produced by combustion of fuel in compressed air. The first true gas turbine engine was designed by Dr. Stolze in 1872. Gas turbines are used on ships, locomotives, automobiles and even on motorcycles.