IES ALJANADIC -POSADAS (CÓRDOBA)

Machines which
work with heat

DEPARTAMENTO TECNOLOGÍA
(http://www.petervaldivia.com/technology/mechanisms)
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 Machines which work with heat

Steam engine .

A steam engine is a machine that produces mechanical work using steam. It needs a
hot source to transform water into steam. Above, a simple steam engine. There is an
inlet valve ( in the middle ) and two Outlet valves.

Below this valves, there is a Fp ( front port ) and a Bp ( Back port) allow high-pressure
steam to act alternately on both faces of the piston.

Phases in a Steam engine

Phase a ) The opening of the front port allows superheated steam from the boiler to
enter the cylinder and push the piston back. As the piston move backwards, used steam
from the previous stroke is exhausted through the back port.

Phase b). The valve starts to move backwards while the steam in the cylinder continues
to expand and pushes the piston back.

Phase c) The front port opens to exhaust steam and at the same time the back port
closes. This creates some back pressure before the next stroke is made.

Phase d) The back port opens to allow "fresh" steam into the cylinder which then push
the piston forward. A new sweep begins again and the process repeats

The boiler

A boiler is a essential component in all type of steam engine. The high-pressure steam
needed to move the piston in a steam engine comes from a boiler. Its job is to apply
heat to water to create high-pressure steam.

The following diagram shows you a typical water-tube boiler. In this boiler, water flow
through a rack of pipes that are placed in the path of hot gases from the fire.
Four stroke engine .
Stroke is defined as the movement of the piston from the 'bottom dead centre ' (BDC) to
the 'top dead centre' (TDC) or the other way round, that is from TDC to BDC. A four
stroke engine has 4 strokes.

1º Intake.

2º Compression

3º Power

4º Exhaust.

4 Stroke engine

1. Intake 2. Compression. Both exhaust and intake

valves stay closed as the piston moves
The piston is at its highest point (TDC), the upward from the BDC (bottom dead centre)
inlet valve opening and the exhaust valve The piston moves upward, squeezing the
closed. The piston moves downward and it fuel-air mixture into a smaller volume. The
increases the volume between the valves pressure gets higher and this causes the fuel-
and the piston, so the pressure inside the air mixture’s temperature to rise. With high
cylinder gets lower and lower. As the temperature, ignition is easier and
outside air pressure is higher, this forces combustion more complete
the air-fuel mixture into the cylinder as the
piston is moving down. A moment later,
the piston reaches the BDC ( bottom dead
centre) and the inlet valve closes. A new
 4 Stroke engine

stroke is coming.

3. Ignition and Power: Just before the piston reach the TDC ( At the end of the
compression stroke ) the spark plug fires. The fuel-air mixture explodes forcing the
piston down the cylinder. The power stroke drives the engine

4 Exhaust.

At the bottom of the power stroke, the

exhaust valve is opened by the cam/lifter
mechanism.

The piston now moves from BDC to TDC.

The inlet valve is closed, the exhaust valve
opens, and the piston, moving upward,
pushes the leftover gases out of the
cylinder. BDC = bottom dead centre TDC
= top dead centre
Turbo Jet. The heart of the aeroplane

Newton's third law says:

For every force acting on a body there is an equal and
opposite reaction.
1600 years before any flying machine could ever fly and before Newton announced the
third mechanical law, Hero of Alexandria invented the Aeolipile. Nothing serious, just a
toy, but the modern jet engine use- it was the same physics principle! In Greek, the
word Aeolipile means “Wind Ball”. How does this stuff work? A closed vessel filled
with water is heating. After a few minutes, steam is produced and passes through two
vertical outlets into the ball. Steam began to escape from the directional nozzle and the
ball can rotate. Do you fancy making one?

Try to adjust the left directional nozzle and turn 180º

What would the ball do?

Some years later

Turbojet is a 'jet engine' or a gas turbine. It consists of: 1. An air inlet: Combustion
needs air and this part of the jet engine leads the incoming air to the compressor. Once
the air is in the compressor, the blades guide the airflow. 2. Air compressor. It is driven
by the turbine and rotates at very high speed, adding kinetic energy to the air and
compressing it into a smaller space. Compressing the air increases its temperature. 3.
Combustion chamber: First, let’s make a comparison. In a full air globe, each face has
equal pressure on it. The air is trying to get away in all directions. If the neck is let go,
the air escapes through it and the globe moves. Between the Compressor and
Combustion zones, the air is being squeezed because the volume has been reduced.
Later, the volume increases and the air-fuel mixture burns increasing the temperature
and pressure. But

As the mixture burns its temperature increases dramatically, but the pressure
actually decreases respect to the squeeze zone. In other case, the air combustion
could escape through the intake. Please, think about it

So, the compressed air inside the combustion chamber has expanded due to the
enormous temperature and, as it is released out into normal atmospheric pressure, it will
pass the turbines 4. Gas turbine. Hot gases leaving the Combustion chamber are allowed
to expand through the turbine and cause the turbine blades to spin round. A central shaft
connects the turbine to the compressor, so that the compressor is turned by energy
extracted from the hot exhaust. A lot of energy is used to feed the jet engine by
increasing the velocity of the exhaust gases through the nozzle. 5. Nozzle After the gas
turbine, the gases increase its velocity due to a convergent nozzle. Because the exit
velocity is greater than the free intake air velocity, the jet engine moves forwards.

TurboFan
It is similar to a turbojet. It consists of a large fan with a smaller turbojet engine
mounted behind, so we may may that a turbofan is a Fan + a turbo jet.

Turboprop. In this case, the main shaft is directly coupled to a gearbox at the front of
the jet engine to drive a propeller.

Dictionary:

Nozzle: A short outlet pipe projecting from the end or side of a hollow vessel, such as a
steam-engine cylinder.