Special design bureau "Turbina" celebrates Its 115th anniversary

SDB "Turbina", originating from the Turbine Design Bureau, was established in June 1906 at the St. Petersburg Metal Plant.

Developed by specialists at the Metal Plant's Design Bureau, the first steam turbine in Russia, with a capacity of only 200 kW, was manufactured in 1907. However, in the 1960s, the Design Bureau created steam turbines with a capacity of 300, 500, 800, and 1,000 kW for thermal power plants. These machines were designed to operate at a supercritical steam pressure of 240 atmospheres: at that time, Europe limited use to the subcritical turbine inlet steam pressure of 170 atmospheres.

In the late 1970s, SDB developed the most powerful high-speed (3,000 rpm) single-shaft turbine for thermal power plants to date, with 1,200 MW of supercritical steam pressure. Thanks to their designs, which were groundbreaking at that time, most of these "millionaires" are still in operation. Furthermore, the K-1000-60/3000 high-speed turbine for NPP has elevated the domestic turbine industry to the ranks of global leaders in the field of such machines.

Today, SDB has accumulated unique experience in creating turbines with a capacity of 50 to 1,200 MW for thermal power plants, as well as high-speed and low-speed turbines with a capacity of up to 1,255 MW for nuclear power plants. The proposed technologies are based on our own design developments, without any purchased foreign licenses. The SDB "Turbina" strategy is aimed at the further development of domestic steam turbine construction, and gaining leadership in the global turbine equipment market for TPPs and NPPs.

Therefore, over the past decade, high-speed steam turbines with a capacity of 1,000-1,200 MW have been put into operation for NPPs in Russia, India, Iran, Belarus, along with modern steam turbines with a capacity of 660 MW – for TPPs in India. New designs for machines with a capacity of 200 MW at an increased rotation speed of 60 Hz have been developed. The prototype of Russia's first low-speed (at 1,500 rpm) steam turbine with a capacity of 1,255 MW for NPPs has also been manufactured.