The scope of application of steam turbine
Steam turbine is a kind of device used to convert the thermal energy of steam into mechanical energy to drive the rotation of the turbine blades. Its scope of application is very wide. For example, the power plant mainly uses it to drive the generator to generate electricity. In other places, ships and submarines, compressors and pumps, aircraft power plants and other industrial equipment are widely used.
Steam turbines are one of the most efficient prime movers ever built. The thermal efficiency of the high-pressure (HP) and intermediate-pressure (IP) turbine stages of the conventional turbine is between 10% and 30% higher than that of the reciprocating steam engine. In addition, steam turbines are not prone to fatigue and other mechanical problems and have long service life.
The application of thermal and hydraulic turbines in hydraulic turbines is mainly used to drive the generator to generate electricity. Wind turbines are also driven by steam turbines, combined with the hollow cup wind turbine system. The wind turbine and the steam turbine act as a unit to generate electricity. Steam turbines mainly use low-temperature, low-pressure steam as energy source, and the power range of single unit is generally between 0.4Mw and 300Mw.
Steam turbines are widely used in power plants today. In fossil fuel power plants, steam turbines are generally water tube boilers. Nuclear power plants use steam turbines to generate electricity in the nuclear reactor. The nuclear power plant includes two kinds of turbine units, namely, the steam turbine unit and the turbine core. The steam turbine is mainly used to drive the generator to generate electricity, while the rotating turbine core is mainly used to drive the pump to extract the cooling water from the reactor.
In addition to power generation, steam turbines are also used in large ships and submarines. The thermal energy generated by the internal combustion engine or the generator is used to generate low or medium pressure steam and then drive the turbine, driving the ship to move forward. Steam turbines are also used in aviation power plants to provide power for aircraft or rockets.
Steam turbines are also widely used in industrial equipment such as compressors and pumps. These equipments mainly use steam turbine to drive the impeller of the compressor and pump to rotate, so as to achieve the purpose of compressing the gas or pumping the liquid.
In addition， steam turbines are also used in oil and gas transportation pipelines. The steam turbine drives the high-pressure oil pump to rotate, enabling the oil and gas to be transported along the pipeline.
In brief, steam turbines are widely used in various industry fields, such as power plants, ships and submarines, compressors and pumps, aircraft power plants and other industrial equipments. The scope of its application is very broad.
