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The
first steam-powered device was little more than a
toy, the classic Aeolipile described by Heron of
Alexandria. A thousand years later, a steam turbine
with practical applications was invented in 1551 by
Taqi al-Din in Ottoman Egypt, who described it as a
prime mover for rotating a spit. Another steam
turbine device was created by Italian Giovanni
Branca in year 1629. The modern steam turbine was
invented in 1884 by an Anglo Irishman, Charles A.
Parsons, whose first model was connected to a dynamo
that generated 7.5 kW of electricity. His patent was
licensed and the turbine scaled up shortly after by
an American, George Westinghouse. A number of other
variations of turbines have been developed that work
effectively with steam. The de Laval turbine
(invented by Gustaf de Laval) accelerated the steam
to full speed before running it against a turbine
blade. This was good, because the turbine is
simpler, less expensive and does not need to be
pressure-proof. It can operate with any pressure of
steam. It is also, however, considerably less
efficient. The Parson's turbine also turned out to
be relatively easy to scale up. Within Parson's
lifetime the generating capacity of a unit was
scaled up by about 10,000 times. |
