Steam turbine, also known as steam turbine engine, is a rotary steam power device, high temperature and high pressure steam through a fixed nozzle to become accelerated airflow jet to the blade, so that the rotor equipped with blade row rotation, together with external work. Steam turbine is the primary equipment of modern thermal power plant, also used in metallurgical industry, chemical industry, ship power plant.
In the first century A.D., Herod of Alexandria described an early form of a resistance turbine accessory, called the "wind wheel," which was spun by the reaction of steam. In 1629, Gde Blanca of Italy proposed a wheel that was turned by a blast of steam against a blade. In 1882, C.G.Pde laval of Sweden produced a 5 HP (3.67 kw) single stage excited turbine. In 1884, C.A. Parsons of England manufactured a 10 HP (7.35 kW) single-stage resistance turbine. In 1910, the B.& F. Jonkstron brothers of Sweden made a radial flow resistance turbine.
At the end of the 19th century, Sweden's Raval and England's Parsons separated to create a useful steam turbine. Laval produced a 5 HP (3.67 kW) single-stage turbine in 1882 and solved problems related to nozzle planning and strength planning. The single stage excited turbine has very little power and is rarely used.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Lato in France and Zolay in Switzerland separately produced multi-stage excited steam turbines. The multistage structure opens up the way for turbine power, has been widely used, the unit power is constant. Parsons obtained a British patent in 1884 for a ten-horsepower multistage resistance turbine, which was then dominant in both power and efficiency.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Curtis in the United States made a turbine with multiple speed stages. Each speed stage generally has two rows of moving blades. After the rows of moving blades, guide blades are installed on the cylinder to guide the airflow to the two rows of moving blades. The speed turbine is only used for small steam turbines. It mainly drives pumps, blowers, etc., and is also commonly used as the stage of small and medium-sized multi-stage steam turbines.
