Principles of Steam Engine
In steam engines, the steam is utilised as the working substance. Those
engines operate on the principle of the first law of thermodynamics,
i.e., heat and work are mutually convertible.
There are three laws of thermodynamics:
Zeroth law of thermodynamics
First law of thermodynamics
Second law of thermodynamics
First Law of Thermodynamics
It states that” the heat and work are mutually convertible”.
it is the law of conservation of energy.
i.e, energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but it can
convert into another form of energy.
If a thermodynamic system is operating in a closed cycle,
then the heat transfer is directly proportional to the work
transfer.
Mathematically according to this law, we have
Second Law of Thermodynamics
This law states.
” There is a definite limit to the amount of mechanical energy, which
can be obtained from a given quantity of heat energy.”
All the parts of a steam engine may be broadly divided into two groups
i.e., stationary parts and moving parts. although a steam engine
consists of many parts, both stationary and moving, yet
The following are important parts of a steam engine:
1. Frame
Principles of Steam Engine
2. Cylinder
3. Steam Chest
4. D-Slide Valve
5. Inlet and Exhaust Parts
6. Piston
7. Piston Rod
8. Cross-head
9. Connecting Rod
10. Crankshaft
11. Eccentric
12. Eccentric Rod and Valve Rod
13. Flywheel
14. Governor
Working Principle
1. Working principle of a single cylinder double acting horizontal
reciprocating steam engine:
2. The principal parts of a single-cylinder, double-acting horizontal
reciprocating steam engine are shown in the figure.
3. The superheated steam at high pressure (about 20 atmospheres)
from the boiler is led into the steam chest. After that, the steam
makes its way into the cylinder through any of the ports ‘a’ or ‘b’
depending upon the position of the D-slide valve.
4. When port ‘a’ is open, the steam rushes to the left side of the
piston and forces it to the right. At this stage, the slide valve
covers the exhaust port and the other steam port as shown in the
figure. Since the pressure of steam is greater on the left side than
that on the right side, the piston moves to the right.
5. When the piston reaches near the end of the cylinder, it closes
the steam port ‘a’ and exhaust port. The port ‘b’ is now open, and
the steam passes to the right side of the piston.
6. This forces the piston to the left and at the same time the exhaust
steam goes out through the exhaust pipe, and thus completes the
cycle of operation. The same process is repeated in other cycles
of operation, and as such the engine works.