Gustaf de Laval
Karl Gustaf Patrik de Laval was a Swedish engineer and inventor who made important contributions to the design of steam turbines and centrifugal separation machinery for dairy.
Life
Gustaf de Laval was born at Orsa in Dalarna in the Swedish de Laval Huguenot family. He enrolled at the Institute of Technology in Stockholm in 1863, receiving a degree in mechanical engineering in 1866, after which he matriculated at Uppsala University in 1867.He was then employed by the Swedish mining company, Stora Kopparberg. From there he returned to Uppsala University and completed his doctorate in 1872. He was further employed in Kloster Iron works in Husby parish, Sweden.
de Laval was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences from 1886. He was a successful engineer and businessman. He also held national office, being elected to the Swedish parliament, from 1888 to 1890, and later became a member of the senate. De Laval died in Stockholm in 1913 at the age of 67.
He is interred at Norra begravningsplatsen in Stockholm, Sweden.
Contributions
de Laval nozzle
In 1882 he introduced his concept of an impulse steam turbine and in 1887 built a small steam turbine to demonstrate that such devices could be constructed on that scale. In 1890, Laval developed a nozzle to increase the steam jet to supersonic speed, working from the kinetic energy of the steam, rather than its pressure. The nozzle, now known as a de Laval nozzle, is used in modern rocket engine nozzles. De Laval turbines can run at up to 30,000 rpm. The turbine wheel was mounted on a long flexible shaft, its two bearings spaced far apart on either side. The higher speed of the turbine demanded that he also design new approaches to reduction gearing, which are still in use today. Since the materials available at the time were not strong enough for the immense centrifugal forces, the output from the turbine was limited, and large scale electric steam generators were dominated by designs using the alternative compound steam turbine approach of Charles Parsons.Using high pressure steam in a turbine that had oil-fed bearings meant that some of the steam contaminated the lube-oil, and as a result, perfecting commercial steam-turbines required that he also develop an effective oil/water separator. After trying several methods, he concluded that a centrifugal separator was the most affordable and effective method. He developed several types, and their success established the centrifugal separator as a useful device in a variety of applications.