After a decade of work, the first millimeter size turbine engine
developed by researchers at MIT should become operational by the end of
this summer. The new turbine engine will allow the creation of smaller
and more powerful batteries than anything currently in existence. It
might also serve as the basis for tiny powerful motors with
applications ranging from micro UAVs to children's toys. In the more
distant future huge arrays of hydrogen fueled millimeter turbine
engines could even be the basis for clean, quiet and cost effective
power plants.
Turbine engine history
Turbine engine history goes back to the beginning of the 20'th century.
In 1903 the Norwegian inventor Aegidus Elling became the first person
to successfully construct a gas turbine engine which produced excess
power, reaching 11hp (the Wright brothers Kitty Hawk which flew for the
first time that year had 12hp). Several years later Charles Curtis, who
invented the Curtis steam engine, filed the first patent application in
the U.S. for a gas turbine engine which he was granted in 1914 (but not
without some controversy). Four years later, in 1918, General Electric
(GE), founded by Edison in the mid 1870's, started work on aircraft
engine turbochargers and two decades later on aircraft jet engines on
their gas turbine division (now one of the biggest in the world). In
1930 the inventor and Royal Air Force officer Sir Frank Whittle,
building on previous work including that of Elling, designed and
patented the first gas turbine for jet propulsion. After a neck to neck
race to build the first jet powered engine, the German Hans von Ohain,
working with the Heinkel Company, became the first to design and test a
jet powered aircraft in 1939 beating Whittle which suffered from
technical problems with his design.
After
the war turbine jet engines continued to develop and grow in size and
power forming the basis for almost all modern aircraft engines. Holding
the world record today is the GE90 series engine which helps power the
Boeing 777 Airliner. With 22 blades the engine is over 120 inch (3
meters) tall producing over 115,000lb of thrust (over 127,000lb on a
test) this engine is 10,000 more powerful than that used by the Wright
brothers one century ago.
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