Advantages Of Steam Turbine Over Steam Engine

In this article, I will share the advantages of using steam turbines over steam engines.

What you need to understand is that both engines and steam turbines utilize steam to do work.

In a steam power plant, a steam turbine or steam engine can be used when it comes to the generation of electricity.

The choice of whether to use a steam turbine or steam engine in a steam power plant will be influenced by the factors I will talk about in this article.

There are certain merits when one chooses to use a steam turbine over a steam engine.

That is what I will be talking about in this article.

When it comes to the choice of a steam turbine and steam engine, it’s just like thinking so hard when you have to choose between a boiler and a steam generator.

Without wasting time, let me share what you should know when it comes to choosing to use a steam turbine over a steam engine.

These are the advantages of using a steam turbine over a steam engine;

1. Steam turbine requires less space for installation.

This is the first advantage of using a steam turbine over a steam engine.

advantages of steam turbine over steam engine

With a steam turbine, you require a small space for installation no matter the capacity of the unit you require.

A steam turbine is just a unit that can be installed at a certain location and still allow room for other components to be installed.

This is very different when it comes to a steam engine; it occupies a large space in the power plant even when it’s of a small capacity.

So, a steam turbine is preferred because it occupies a small space even if it’s of a large capacity.

The design of a steam turbine allows it to occupy less space because it doesn’t have many complex parts compared to a steam engine.

Using a steam turbine will enable one to save space in the power plant, organize the plant layout in a better way and makes the installation of new machines in the power plant easier.

2. A steam turbine is quiet and smooth in its operation.

If you want a quiet and conducive working environment in a power plant you should consider using a steam turbine.

A steam turbine doesn’t produce too much noise when it’s operating compared to a steam engine.

This makes it preferable in areas where noise is not needed; you can use a steam turbine in a hospital environment for power generation.

But you can’t think of installing a steam engine because it’s noisy and never smooth when it’s operating because of its design.

The steam engine has a piston, piston rod, crosshead and etc and all these parts contribute to the rough working and noise of the unit.

Also, when we look at the side of machine installation in the plant, its rough operation will cost so much when it comes to building its foundation.

The foundation that will be needed to install a steam engine is going to be bigger and deeper compared to the foundation of the steam turbine.

You might like this: Factors Influencing The Choice Of Machine Foundation

3. Steam turbines can be designed for greater capacities.

The designs of the steam turbines enable them to be built in greater capacities.

This is a different story when it comes to a steam engine.

The steam turbine can be designed with different ranges of capacity.

A steam turbine can be designed to a capacity of 200,000 horsepower in a single unit.

The capacity of the steam turbine will not affect its size so much compared to a steam engine.

The design of a steam engine doesn’t allow it to be designed for great capacities.

If there is a need for a steam engine with a great capacity, the size will have to be increased significantly or the interconnection of several steam engines to happen.

With a steam turbine, you won’t have to worry about this because it can be designed with greater ranges of speed.

The higher the speed of the steam turbine, the higher its operating capacity.

4. A steam turbine uses less lubricant.

This is another advantage of a steam turbine over a steam engine.

A steam turbine uses less lubricant compared to a steam engine.

The only part that you will need to lubricate on a steam turbine is the moving part.

That is around the neck of the rotor where most of the rotation happens.

There is no internal lubrication in a steam turbine.

The fact that less amount of lubricant will be needed to keep the operation of the steam turbine effective; more money can be saved for maintenance practices.

With the presence of the piston and several barrels within the steam engine, for smooth operation internal lubrication will be needed.

The amount of lubricant that will be used in a steam engine will be more compared to a steam turbine.

5. The steam turbine doesn’t increase the consumption of steam.

The steam turbine doesn’t increase the consumption of steam as the unit ages.

This is different when we compare it to a steam engine; the consumption of steam will increase as the machine ages.

If the consumption of steam will increase while the efficiency doesn’t, this will only result in losses.

The output will be lower than the input.

The operation cost of the power plant will increase thus increasing the cost of electrical energy production.

With a steam turbine, you don’t have to worry about an increase in steam consumption as the unit ages.

The only thing you may be worried about is the decrease in the efficiency of the machine.

After a long period of use, the shaft of the steam turbine will start to wear out and the blades will start to wear and corrode too.

But the amount of steam that will be consumed inside the steam turbine will never increase at any point.

This is an advantage because the cost of steam generation won’t increase.

The increase in consumption of steam increases the cost of steam generation.

6. A steam turbine has a higher range of thermodynamic efficiency.

A steam turbine has a higher range of thermodynamic efficiency compared to a steam engine.

We all use these units because we want a sufficient generation of energy.

The thermodynamic efficiency range in a steam turbine being higher, it enables maximum utilization of the steam energy thus increasing the overall efficiency of the power plant.

The steam’s energy is used to the fullest in the steam turbine, thus the higher thermodynamic range.

Less heat energy is lost to the environment since the design of the steam turbine and its auxiliaries is meant to reduce that.

You might like this: Type Of Heat Losses In a Steam Plant (+How To Minimize Them)

The thermodynamic range of a steam engine is lower because it doesn’t allow a design of a big range of capacities.

Lastly…

These are the advantages of using a steam turbine compared to a steam engine.

Most power plants prefer using steam turbines because of how effective they are.

You don’t have to invest so much when you want to install a steam turbine in a power plant.

Also, the maintenance needed on a steam turbine is not hectic compared to a steam engine.

Installing a steam engine in a power plant it’s like installing another piece of a huge machine that requires extra attention as the other big machines.

It increases the work done in the power plant, and for what cost?

Thanks for reading, if you have any suggestions or questions just leave a comment. See you in my next article.