Steam engine Definition and 34 Threads

Background: In my opinion the next decade has great potential for difficult circumstances for worldwide. I have been obsessed with coming up with a small electrical power generation system (minimum 500 watt, goal is 1kW) for charging batteries during disaster relief situations where refined...

Our system of interest has a duct on the left and a piston chamber on the right that make the shape of the letter T rotated 90º clockwise. The smaller tube on the left is abbreviated as P1 has an unspecified length while the piston chamber is P2. The air in P2 heats up and expands while the...

So I found this steam engine on the youtubes: Consider the system not including the candles, only including the can that makes up the boiler shell and the piston, flywheel, etc. The boiler can acts as a hot reservoir; however, the Kelvin-Planck statement of the 2nd law says you can't have an...

Were steam pressure gauges used in 1860? Was a vessel reversed by reversing the engine or within the gearing? For a small steam powered launch, how long from a dead stop would it take to get a boiler up to operating steam? This is for my study of Confederate torpedo boats. Thank you for your...

I have been reading the book _Able Seamen: The Lower Decks of the Royal Navy 1850-1939_ by Brian Lavery, Naval Institute Press 2011, and I came across an interesting paragraph regarding engine efficiency (and labor requirements) as steam began to replace sail. I reproduce the relevant...

Why do we use water for steam engines? Why not something else? So, I have a question, or maybe it is an idea that i would like to share. So, sure, there are many finer points to the engineering of a steam turbine to make them work efficiently, and no doubt the designs have improved much since...

I am planning to build a Hero's steam engine or Aeolipile. This is the steam engine invented by the Greeks about 2000 years ago. It is attributed to Hero or Heron (10-70 AD) but was also referred to in 15 BC. My grandfather build one for a show. I have inherited it but rather than try to repair...

Would it be possible to build an engine that runs primarily off a petrol but has a steam engine that captures all the heat lost from the combustion (70%) and applies it towards powering the engine? Looking for ideas, opinions and attitudes on whether or not it is a practical idea.

I am very fascinated by steam engines. When I took my thermodynamics course a few years back, I remember learning that the steam is recirculated after it does work. I am confused on how this happens. After the steam is used to do work, it is expelled at a lower pressure than it started...

Advice request -- design a toy steam engine and do a pull event Hello, Please do forgive me if this is inappropriate use of this sight, I'm looking for general advice, any suggestions as to where I could get information and thoughts on the subject are welcome. I've taken a challenge to...

Ok, so I have complete faith in the tried and proven laws of thermodynamics, including the part of the second law which states that it is impossible to create a heat engine working in cycle that takes in a certain amount of heat energy, and converts all the heat energy it takes in, into...

Hi I'm dbmorpher For my local History fair I am basing my report on the Indutrial Evolution and it's Inventions namely the Steam Engine. I wanted to know if there was an easy way to make a steam engine that was or had... Low cost parts No fuel such as coal or wood No need for complicated...

Given that I have a steam engine, and now its size, the size of the piston, the length of its stroke and the force acting on the piston at certain points, I need to calculate the force on the crankshaft. Now, I now that Fx should be the same where the piston meets the crank, and we can ignore...

Hello everyone this is my first steam engine made using very simple parts like cardboard, disposable syringe, straw, pen end caps and bicycle spokes. How much economical can you make your engine? Here it is costs only about Rs.10. Blowed air through mouth that's why produces lower rpm use...

Hi, my first post. So brief presentation, I'm an undergraduate mechanical engineer student. I hope this doesn't actually fall in homework, but it's a project that I have this semester: a steam engine car (small). I've made a bit of research and I ended up discovering the following "engine"...

Homework Statement In a steam engine the pressure and volume of steam satisfy the equation PV1.4=k, where k is a constant. Calculate the work done by the engine (in ft/lbs) during a cycle when the steam starts at a pressure of 100 lb/in2 and a volume of 400in3 and expands to a volume of...

I recently bought one of those model steam engines, which came with a box of fuel tablets which I can't figure out how to light. I've put them over my cigarette lighter until they snap, crackle, and pop but they just won't catch and my engine won't go. How do you light these things? The box...

Let's say we have a room in which it is around 20° C and at normal pressure. There is a substance that is a liquid, but when the temperature increases to 25° C or so, it rapidly expands, whether that is by boiling (conversion to gas), or just by expanding as a liquid. First question: does...

I have to do a paper ( kind of project ) for 4-6 page on Thermodynamics description of a watt steam engine. i have no idea where to start. It is for a Thermodynamics 1 class. Thanks in advance.

Homework Statement The flywheel of a steam engine begins to rotate from rest with a constant angular acceleration of 1.33 rad/s2. It accelerates for 23.5 s, then maintains a constant angular velocity. Calculate the total angle through which the wheel has turned 67.3 s after it begins...

I am trying to design a low cost solar/steam engine for deployment where clean water and electricity are scarce. The prototyping I am currently doing is being done using plywood and a CNC router (mainly because that is what I have at my disposal). This will almost certainty not work as an end...

Hey all...So i have this project, to use any other liquid apart from water in a solar powered steam engine. At the moment i am still in research phase, and have been reading on quite a few liquids although i have been concentrating on ethanol, as it is readily available and has a BP of 78...

Homework Statement If a steam engine operates at half of its theoretical maximum efficiency (emax) and does work at a rate of W J/s, calculate how much heat is discharged per second. Homework Equations WMax = \epsilon_{Max}*Q_{H} W = QH-QC The Attempt at a Solution W =...

I have a project for my sophomore design class to test the efficiency of a wobbler steam engine. I have heard people talk of using a dc motor and connecting it with a belt to the flywheel to see what voltage it produces but I don't know how to do that. In addtion, some have suggested to just...

I have been working on an idea for a new energy source that I would like to get some input on. I took physics in college about 10 years ago, so I have a general understanding of the concepts, but I am definitely not an expert on thermodynamics. Here is my idea: 1. Use a heat pump(ground...

Homework Statement If a steam engine operates at half of its theoretical maximum efficiency, and does work at a rate of W J/s, calculate how much heat is discharged per second. The Attempt at a Solution emax = W/QH (Carnot) emax = W/2QH --> QH = W/emax Wrong answer. What...

Would it be possible to build a steam engine using parts made primarily of carbon fiber? Any engine?

Homework Statement The flywheel of a steam engine runs with a constant angular speed of 156rev/min. When the steam is shut off, the friction of the bearings and of the air brings the wheel to rest in 2.20h. What is the tangential linear acceleration of a particle 52.4cm from the axis of...

Homework Statement The flywheel of a steam engine runs with a constant angular speed of 137 rev/min. When steam is shut off, the friction of the bearings and the air brings the wheel to rest in 2.7 h. What is the magnitude of the tangential component of the linear acceleration of a...

Homework Statement The flywheel of a steam engine begins to rotate from rest with a constant angular acceleration of 1.35 rad/s^2. It accelerates for 33.1 s, then maintains a constant angular velocity. Calculate the total angle through which the wheel has turned 47.5 s after it begins...

I found this the other day and was wondering if it could work. If nothing else it is an interesting concept. http://www.keelynet.com/energy/microeng.htm"

My textbook shows a PV diagram for a steam engine with the pump stage having no change in volume and with only a vertical increase in pressure. How can that be done. I can only imagine pumping a substance by pushing it inwards hence increasing its pressure but also reducing its volume. How can...

What do you think of this crazy looking engine. http://www.greensteamengine.com/ And a steam engine that powered an aeroplane. http://www.tinypower.com/airplane.htm

The steam engine which operates between 500°C and 200°C is run in reverse. How long would it take to freeze a tray of a dozen 37 g compartments of liquid water at room temperature (20°C) into a dozen ice cubes at the freezing point, assuming that it takes 300 W of input electric power to run it...