Gas Turbine : Overview of Types

Gas Turbine Working Principle

Gas Turbine : Overview of Types

Any gas turbine operates with intake, compression, expansion, and exhaust cycle. As a fundamental of the gas turbine working principle, in each gas turbine type, the compressor first compresses the air and this air is then driven through the combustion engine. Fuel is continuously burned for high-temperature and high-pressure gas processing. What a gas turbine is doing is expanding the gas generated by the combustor into the turbine and thus generating the rotary energy that is used by the compressor on the preceding stage. There is an output shaft for the remaining energy.

Gas Turbine Applications

Regarding gas turbine applications, these turbines are one of the most popular technologies for the generation of electricity today. Their power generation could also be utilized in chemical plants and refineries. They have significantly contributed to cleaner power generation in recent years. The production of new and advanced technologies would allow better use of gas turbines across multiple power sectors, from electricity production to transport and aviation, thereby improving the efficiency of all these industries.

Apart from electricity production in power and chemical plants, these turbomachines are also the backbone of today’s aviation and aircraft propulsion. Different types of gas turbines are used in aircrafts from small passenger ones such as the beautiful Hawker 400, formerly known as the MU-300, to the magnificent A380. They are also used in cargo airplanes from small to large such as Airbus Beluga. Military aircrafts are also propelled by jet engines.

Types of Gas Turbine

Here, we introduce the four major types of gas turbine engines. Do pay attention that such variety of gas turbine design is only present in aircraft gas turbines. For gas turbines used in power plants, the configuration is rather similar to turbojet engines to be discussed below.

Turbojet Engines

The first gas turbine type was turbojet engines. Although they look entirely different from reciprocal engines, they operate on the same principle: intake, compression, power and exhaust. In this type of engine, air is moved at a high speed to the fuel inlet and ignitor of the combustion chamber. The turbine induces accelerated exhaust gases by expanding air.

Turboprop Engines

The second gas turbine type is a turboprop engine. It is a turbojet engine that is connected via a gear system to a propeller. The working process of such a gas turbine type is as follows:

• The turbojet spins a shaft linked to a transmission gearbox
• A transmission box slows down the spinning process and the slowest moving gear is attached to the transmission mechanism.
• The air propeller rotates and generates thrust

Turbofan Engines

The world’s best turbojets and turboprops is paired with turbofan engines. Turbofan engines can be connected to the front of a turbojet engine with a duct fan. The fan then creates an extra push, helps the engine to cool and reduces the engine noise output.

Turboshaft Engines

The fourth gas turbine type is turboshaft engines that are used mainly on helicopters. The biggest difference is that turboshaft engines use the bulk of their power to spin turbines instead of driving them out from the rear of the vehicle. Turboshaft engines are a turbojet motor with a large shaft connected to the back of it.