Sounds cool, eh? Yeah, well, they are cool ! So in this detailed post we are going to see what is turbine, what are the types of turbines, their working & applications in various powerplants.
What is turbine ?
A turbine is a rotating part which converts kinetic energy of a working fluid into useful mechanical energy and/or electrical energy. Simple, right? Well, nothing is simple when you go deeper. There are set of blades mounted on a rotor which helps in extracting energy from the moving fluid. The efficiency of turbines depend on the design of the blades. Different applications need different designs & designing them isn’t a layman’s job. more “What are Turbines ? | Types of turbines & their applications”
When I was a kid, I always used to think, is there a need of clutch ? what does it do exactly ? & as a kid I was able to imagine the working of brakes & how does the speed increase but I was never able to understand clutches ! It was truly a satisfying moment for me when I was completely able to understand clutches. So here it is, today we’ll see everything you need to know about Clutches ! more “How car clutches work ? | Parts, function & types !”
that was just my honest attempt to make you laugh 😀
Well, that is what I think about brakes. If you have a car with a powerful engine which could run fast as a cheetah but doesn’t have enough powerful brakes to stop it OR control it, you better sell it ASAP 😛 . So today in here, we’ll see what are brakes & the types of brakes !more “What are Brakes ? | Types of Brakes explained (animations)”
8 out of 10 people still think that Autopilots are a computer system which are capable of driving the vehicles on their own ! Well that is completely wrong ! Rather than just correcting them, let us all know what is actually are autopilot system & everything else related to it ! more “Autopilots | How do they work ?”
Very few are lucky enough to take a ride in a Chopper & I am happy to be one of them ! Anyway, helicopters are indeed one of the most interesting machines from which I know so far. Subjects like flight mechanics & helicopter dynamics are not for weak hearted ones; they are seriously challenging to study ! Well keeping those complex calculations, equations & relations aside, lets at least know how helicopters work, fly & are steered ! more “How do helicopters fly, work & turn (Animation) ?”
Missiles – pretty cool uhh.. but what makes them so cool ? Well, the best thing is you could launch a weapon thousands of miles away. This leaves no reason why the military of every nation won’t keenly research on it.
Missiles :-
The word missile comes from the Latin verb mittere, which means – “to send” ! Basically, a missile is a self-propelled guided munition system. The first missiles were developed by Nazi Germany in WWII. These were simply radio controlled by the operator & were only built in small numbers.
So here we will be looking into the main systems of a missile i.e guidance system, flight controlling, propulsion & about warheads. Lets get to the first one –
How are missiles guided to their target ?
Missiles can be guided & targeted in a number of ways. The most common method is using some form of radiation such as infrared, laser beams, radio waves. The radiation may be emerging out of an engine or radio waves from a radar station. In case of fighter jets, the missile follows the heat signatures of the engine or the heat released through the nozzle & in case of radar, the missiles follow the radar waves itself(an echo; return signal). These methods are called fire-&-forget as they don’t need any further assistance or guidance to follow their target. A human operator can also steer the missile by using his computer. Another method is to guide the missiles using visible light. One can imagine this as a person flying a RC helicopter of drone.
How do missiles change their directions OR how does the flight system of missiles work ?
To steer or maneuver the missile, the flight system uses the information from the guidance system & accordingly adjusts its thrust & other components. One way of maneuvering is thrust vectoring. Trust Vector Control(TVC) is the ability of an aircraft to manipulate the direction of it’s thrust through nozzle. Therefore TVC are also used to change the direction of missiles. Other way of guiding missiles is through aerodynamics i.e by adjusting wings & fins(tail). Some missiles are also equipped with gyroscopes which are powered by batteries & sometimes help the missile to tilt rapidly.
Animation showing how thrust vector controlling works !
Source:YouTube; Credits: documentariesfootage
How are missiles propelled ?
Here comes the engine section 😉 . Missiles generally use rocket & jet engines for their propulsion. As missiles often have multiple engine stages, they use rocket engines for OR a rocket booster for launching(as more energy is required to overcome gravity & its own weight in the beginning) & later jet engine is used for further flight. Either solid type of fuel or liquid propellant (for larger missiles) is used to run the rocket engine & generally turbojet engines are used for the 2nd stage for flight.
Warheads :-
Missiles generally have one or more explosive warheads. The warheads of a missile provide its primary destructive power (many missiles have extensive secondary destructive power due tTo the high kinetic energy of the weapon and unburnt fuel that may be on board). Other types of warheads include nuclear weapons, chemical or radiological weapons. Warheadless missiles are often used for testing and training purposes.[Source]
Fact for the day :-
The Dongfeng-41 missile
The Dongfeng-41, is a Chinese nuclear solid-fueled road-mobile balistic missile in the flight test stage of development. It is believed to be one of the most powerful missile in the world having an operational range of 12,000-15,000 kms & a speed of Mach 25(30,626 km/h; 19,030 mph; 8.5073 km/s) 😮.
Damn…these guys build these high-military class-shit & fly as well as control them at such high speed, whereas I’m having difficulty even to imagine that speed 🙁 !!! Hats off to them.
Rotary Gnome engines were widely used in aviation before & during WW I ! Besides aviation, Gnome engines were also used in some early motorcycles & aircrafts. So lets see what are & how do rotary engines(gnome engines) work ? more “How do Rotary engines(Gnome engines) work ?”
