The Steam Turbine is one of the most important inventions in the world, as far as engineering is concerned! Steam turbines are devices that convert the mechanical energy of high pressure steam or water vapor, into electrical energy by the use of a generator.

How Did It All Start Off?

Ever since the industrial revolution in Britain, focus shifted on completion of work automatically. This basically meant the use of resources such as coal to produce heat or thermal energy to evaporate water to steam, that could in turn be used to do useful work such as producing motion or performing industrial tasks like lifting (pneumatics), which were otherwise difficult to perform by direct human effort.

The invention of the steam engine by James Watt saw the viable use of steam as a working fluid, and hence, the steam turbine was invented and improved upon, based on the same line of thought.

What Made Steam Turbines So Different?

The steam turbine revolutionized the power production industry, and the steam turbine literally changed the world in a matter of a few years! Steam turbines effectively converted mechanical energy into electrical energy and the processes used initially were also easy to manage, in spite of having great room for improvement, which was later done by other engineers and scientists anyway. While the steam engine focused on using steam to rotate the wheels of the train or car, the steam turbine worked to rotate the blades of a windmill like structure (the turbine itself) by rotating its blades.

Fundamentally, they are pretty much alike, but instead of generating motion alone, turbines generated electricity, which is easy to store, transport and share. Electricity could be used to perform a wide range of tasks that were not necessarily mechanical in nature, such as lighting bulbs and providing heat! This was the main reason that propelled steam turbines to become the prime focus of engineers of the time.

What Were The First Steam Turbines Used For?

Though you may find it quite unbelievable, initially the steam turbine was a mere toy, used by the ancient Egyptians! Later on, the steam turbine was used to rotate cooking aids such as spits, also in Egypt. Steam turbines have, as you can see, long been used to do useful work. However, the main focus of scientists and engineers after the industrial revolution was the use of steam turbines to produce electricity by moving the armature arms of the electrical generator. Putting it technically, the generator armature is rotated due to the rotary motion of the turbine, which is in turn because of the force of the impending steam on the turbine blades. Steam Turbines were then used in producing motion, though only for a short period of time. Steam turbines were used in ships to propel them forward more efficiently, and this was also an area of high interest.