The Ljungström turbine (''Ljungströmturbinen'') is a

steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

. It is also known as the STAL turbine, from the company name STAL (). The technology has had numerous uses since its conception, from

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

s to vehicles as large as the

supertanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined cr ...

Seawise Giant TT ''Seawise Giant''—earlier ''Oppama''; later ''Happy Giant'', ''Jahre Viking'', ''Knock Nevis'', and ''Mont''—was a Oil tanker, ULCC supertanker and the longest self-propelled ship in history. It was built in 1974–1979 by Sumitomo Heavy ...

''. The turbine was invented circa 1908 by the Swedish brothers

Birger Ljungström Birger Ljungström (4 June 1872 – 17 November 1948) was a Swedish engineer, technical designer, industrialist, and inventor. Biography Birger Ljungström was born in Uddevalla, Sweden to cartographer Jonas Patrik Ljungström and Amal ...

(1872–1948) and Fredrik Ljungström (1875–1964). The Ljungström brothers were creative, versatile

inventors An invention is a unique or novelty (patent), novel machine, device, Method_(patent), method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It m ...

, typical of the 19th century. They not only named the

turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced can be used for generating electrical ...

type, but also an early form of a

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...

Functionality

The

steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

flows through the

machine A machine is a physical system that uses power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromol ...

in a

radial Radial is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Mathematics and Direction * Vector (geometric), a line * Radius, adjective form of * Radial distance (geometry), a directional coordinate in a polar coordinate system * Radial set * A ...

direction from the centre to the outer extremities. The turbine consists of two halves that rotate against each other. As a result, each rotor blade of the one turbine half serves simultaneously as the guide blade of the other half. The different direction of rotation of the two halves is either compensated by a

gearbox A transmission (also called a gearbox) is a mechanical device invented by Louis Renault (who founded Renault) which uses a gear set—two or more gears working together—to change the speed, direction of rotation, or torque multiplication/r ...

connected downstream or by separate generators if the turbine is used for the generation of

electrical power Electric power is the rate of transfer of electrical energy within a electric circuit, circuit. Its SI unit is the watt, the general unit of power (physics), power, defined as one joule per second. Standard prefixes apply to watts as with oth ...

. The Ljungström turbine can either be used with a condenser to recover the exhaust steam as condensate, or alternatively the exhaust can be utilised for the supply of a

district heating District heating (also known as heat networks) is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heater, space heating and w ...

grid, and thus the turbine is flexible in its application. It was therefore used in large industrial complexes, which could use the exhaust of this

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

for both

combined heat and power Cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) is the use of a heat engine or power station to electricity generation, generate electricity and useful heat at the same time. Cogeneration is a more efficient use of fuel or heat, because otherwise ...

as well as its electric

energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...

. The functionality has been employed for several

power plants A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many power ...

. In principle, the maximum

power Power may refer to: Common meanings * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power, a type of energy * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events Math ...

possible is about 32 MW, since the diameter of the two turbine halves are limited to a practical size due to fabrication constraints. Coupled with a

Parsons turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Pars ...

, the output of a Ljungström turbine can be increased to about 50 MW. Since more modern

steam power plant A thermal power station, also known as a thermal power plant, is a type of power station in which the heat energy generated from various fuel sources (e.g., coal, natural gas, nuclear fuel, etc.) is converted to electrical energy. The heat ...

s have a significantly higher performance, the Ljungström turbine is generally no longer utilised today. The largest ship ever built, the ULCC supertanker ''

'', was powered by this type of engine.

Gallery

File:Girante radiale per turbina Ljungstrom - Museo scienza tecnologia Milano 02365 dia.jpg, Radial impeller for Ljungstrom turbine - Museo scienza tecnologia, Milan File:Ljungström steam turbine factory Gåshaga 1918.jpg, Factory in Gåshaga,

Lidingö Lidingö (), also known in its definite form Lidingön and as Lidingölandet, is an island in the inner Stockholm archipelago, northeast of Stockholm, Sweden. In 2023, the population of the Lidingö urban area on the island was 48,162. It is the ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, for production of Ljungström locomotives, (1918) File:STAL Ljungström ångturbingenerator 50MW 1932.jpg, Ljungström 50 MW electric generator unit for

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

Västerås Västerås () is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Mälaren, Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 158,653, over 100,000 mo ...

(1932) File:STAL Ljungström steam turbine rotor 50MW.jpg, Turbine rotor of the same turbine (50 MW) File:STAL mottrycks ångturbin, Tekniska museet, Stockholm.jpg, STAL counterpressure steam turbine of steel File:Ljungström turbine rotor.jpg ,

Rotor ROTOR was an elaborate air defence radar system built by the British Government in the early 1950s to counter possible attack by Soviet bombers. To get it operational as quickly as possible, it was initially made up primarily of WWII-era syst ...

for a Ljungström turbine with internal radial and external axial blading

References

Bibliography

* Sigvard Strandh: '' Die Maschine: Geschichte, Elemente, Funktion. Ein enzyklopädisches Sachbuch", Herder Verlag, 1980. (Ljungströmturbine, pp. 133–135, Svea-Bike, p. 220 and Fig. 221)

External links

Ljungströmturbine
Tekniskamuseet
Swedish innovations

Swedish Institute The Swedish Institute (, ) is a government agency in Sweden with the responsibility to spread information about Sweden outside the country. It exists to promote Swedish interests, and to organise exchanges with other countries in different ar ...

STAL-turbin till Tekniska Museet
by Carl-Göran Nilson
Science Museum Group: Brush Ljungstrom radial-flow steam turbine

Science Industry Museum: "Balance of power: The exceptional case of the Brush Ljungström Turbine"

BRUSH electrical history – a collection
{{Steam engine configurations 1908 introductions Steam turbines Swedish inventions Ljungström

Functionality

Gallery

See also

References

Bibliography

External links