Mahtab Ilyas

Roll Number 16-ME -170

Section B

Steam Engine:

A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its
working fluid.

Using boiling water to produce mechanical motion goes back about 2,000 years, but early
devices were not practical. Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the
working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources
such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be used. The ideal
thermodynamic cycle used to analyze this process is called the Rankine cycle.

In a steam engine, hot steam, usually supplied by a boiler, expands under pressure, and
part of the heat energy is converted into work. The remainder of the heat may be allowed
to escape, or, for maximum engine efficiency, the steam may be condensed in a separate
apparatus, a condenser, at comparatively low temperature and pressure. For high
efficiency, the steam must fall through a wide temperature range as a consequence of its
expansion within the engine. The most efficient performance—that is, the greatest output
of work in relation to the heat supplied—is secured by using a low condenser temperature
and a high boiler pressure. The steam may be further heated by passing it through a
superheater on its way from the boiler to the engine. A common superheater is a group of
parallel pipes with their surfaces exposed
to the hot gases in the boiler furnace. By
means of superheaters, the steam may be
heated beyond the temperature at which it
is produced by boiling water.

In a reciprocating engine, the piston and

cylinder type of steam engine, steam
under pressure is admitted into the
cylinder by a valve mechanism. As the steam expands, it pushes the piston, which is
usually connected to a crank on a flywheel to produce rotary motion. In the double-acting
engine, steam from the boiler is admitted alternately to each side of the piston. In a
simple steam engine, expansion of the steam takes place in only one cylinder, whereas in
the compound engine there are two or more cylinders of increasing size for greater
expansion of the steam and higher efficiency; the first and smallest piston is operated by
the initial high-pressure steam and the second by the lower-pressure steam exhausted
from the first.

In the steam turbine, steam is discharged at high velocity through nozzles and then
flows through a series of stationary and moving blades, causing a rotor to move at high
speeds. Steam turbines are more compact and usually permit higher temperatures and
greater expansion ratios than reciprocating steam engines. The turbine is the universal
means used to generate large quantities of electric power with steam.

Components of a Steam Engine:

1.Water Pump:
The Rankine cycle and most practical steam engines have a water
pump to recycle or top up the boiler water, so that they may be run continuously. Utility
and industrial boilers commonly use multi-stage centrifugal pumps; however, other types
are used. Another means of supplying lower pressure boiler feed water is an injector,
which uses a steam jet usually supplied from the boile
2.Boiler:

Boilers are pressure vessels that contain water to be boiled, and some kind
of mechanism for transferring the heat to the water so as to boil it.

The two most common methods of transferring heat to the water are:

1. water-tube boiler – water is contained in or run through one or several tubes

surrounded by hot gases
2. fire-tube boiler – the water partially fills a vessel below or inside which is a
combustion chamber or furnace and fire tubes through which the hot gases flow
Fire tube boilers were the main type used for early high pressure steam (typical steam
locomotive practice), but they were to a large extent displaced by more economical water
tube boilers in the late 19th century for marine propulsion and large stationary
applications.

3.Turbine:
A steam turbine is a device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized
steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft.

Because the turbine generates rotary motion, it is particularly suited to be used to drive an
electrical generator. Steam turbines are made in a variety of sizes ranging from small
<0.75 kW (<1 hp) units (rare) used as mechanical drives for pumps, compressors and
other shaft driven equipment, to 1,500,000 kW (2,000,000 HP) turbines used to generate
electricity. There are several classifications for modern steam turbines.
 Merits:

1. Any source of suitable energy can be used to create steam and use it to drive
the steam engine.
2. It’s efficient is not much affected by high altitudes.
3. A steam engine (or external combustion engine) could be located anywhere
because water is heated in a separate boiler to produce steam. The steam
engine, with its boiler, could be taken to any place of work. On the other hand,
blowing wind or flowing water is not available everywhere to run the wind
mills or water mills.
4. Cheap to build, simple, easy to maintain, reliable, readily available coal
supplies
many improvement which can enhance the performance of the engine.
5. They are used in many transportation systems.

 De-merits:

1. Steam engines have low efficiencies up to 30% only.

2. Create a lot of Air pollution.
3. High temperature is required to make steam which is highly dangerous and
difficult to achieve.
4. A steam engine is huge and heavy. That is, an external combustion engine is
huge and heavy. Due to its big boiler and furnace a steam engine is huge,
heavy and clumsy. Since the boiler of a steam engine is very heavy, therefore,
a steam engine cannot be used for running small vehicles like cars and buses.