Gas turbine Land Rover and leading electrical machine company SR Drives, is to produce the world’s first commercially viable - and environmentally friendly - gas turbine generator designed specifically for automotive applications. The common turbocharger for gasoline or diesel engines is also a turbine derivative. The first serious investigation of using a gas turbine in cars was in 1946 when two engineers, Robert Kafka and Robert Engerstein of Carney Associates, a New York engineering firm, came up with the concept where a unique compact turbine engine design would provide power for a rear wheel drive car. After an article appeared in "Popular
Free-turbine turboshaft Free-turbine turboshaft A free-turbine turboshaft is a form of turboshaft or turboprop gas turbine engine where the power is extracted from the exhaust stream of a gas turbine by a separate turbine, downstream of the gas turbine and is not connected to the gas turbine (the exhaust airflow is what spins the turbine that is connected to the shaft hence the term "free"). This is opposed to the power being extracted from the power spool via a gear box. The advantage of the free turbine is that the two turbines can operate at different speeds, and that these speeds can