Gas turbine on and off to run it only at high efficiency. The emergence of the continuously variable transmission may also alleviate the responsiveness problem. Turbines have historically been more expensive to produce than piston engines, though this is partly because piston engines have been mass-produced in huge quantities for decades, while small gas turbine engines are rarities; however, turbines are mass-produced in the closely related form of the turbocharger. The turbocharger is basically a compact and simple free shaft radial gas turbine which is driven by the piston engine's exhaust gas. The centripetal turbine wheel drives a centrifugal compressor wheel through
Gas turbine gas liquefaction plants) and are used to power almost all modern helicopters. The primary shaft bears the compressor and the high-speed turbine (often referred to as the "Gas Generator"), while a second shaft bears the low-speed turbine (a "power turbine" or "free-wheeling turbine" on helicopters, especially, because the gas generator turbine spins separately from the power turbine). In effect the separation of the gas generator, by a fluid coupling (the hot energy-rich combustion gases), from the power turbine is analogous to an automotive transmission's fluid coupling. This arrangement is used to increase power-output flexibility with associated highly-reliable control mechanisms. In