Steam engine boiler project

Steamingspud

Hey fellas,



I know this is out of the norm, but I was directed to this site by a distributor and figured I'd give it a shot.



I'm a high school student trying to get into a really tough engineering institute, and I'm doing a project to help with admissions. I chose to build and analyse a steam engine, which I made with plumbing fittings and parts from a hardware store. While the engine is one story, the other is the boiler. So far I have done all of my testing with an air compressor, which is perfectly safe, but I wanted to at the very least research how to build a steam boiler in the spirit of the project.



The idea is to avoid welding and part fabrication, so my 'big idea' design uses black iron pipe. I've attached a picture of a drawing I did as a brainstorm, which is absolutely not to scale. The large pipes are either 1in. or 1.25in. black iron, 30in. long with threaded ends. Fittings are 90 elbows, caps, single-size Ts, and one reducing T to 1/2in. The smaller pipes are 1/2in. nipples and respectable fittings leading to the engine. Leading off the 1/2in. pipe is a T with a theoretical safety valve and a pressure gauge. The entire pipe structure is encased in a metal barrel with a stove pipe sticking out the covered top to keep heat like a 'Franklin furnace.'



In the plumbing department of this, I need information on the pipes that for some odd reason none of the stores I've seen black iron pipe at don't have. I need to know how much heat each pipe and fitting can take on the outside. I also need to know the maximum PSI rating under heat for each pipe and fitting. Just as good a place to ask, anyone know where I can get either a low-pressure or adjustable safety valve and a pressure gauge for something else besides a tire?



I appreciate any help or suggestions anyone makes. Please do not try building this boiler if you're looking for ideas. There's a thousand other better ideas out there, and home-boilers are dangerous. Even better, if you have a better idea than this, let me know! Most likely, this will be entirely theoretical for my project, where the design never leaves the pages of the report. Even with mathematical proof, I would not build a boiler unless I had reliable safety equipment. If you have any questions about the plan or any other part of the project, please ask!



Thanks a lot guys!

MP

Jean-David Beyer

Look what steam fanatics do!

This may not help you with your project, but some fanatics build live steam working model steam locomotives. There is a lot of stuff on this site:



http://www.asterhobbyusa.com/



This one, a Great Northern S2 has pictures of most of the parts. The model even has a superheater in the boiler. These are usually fired with alcohol. IIRC, they run around 50 psi.



http://www.asterhobbyusa.com/GreatNorthernS2target.htm



And here is a movie of a different one pulling 72 cars.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqbGtXv2imI



Even "toy" steam engines have a lot of power.



This one is really amazing. 2-6-6-6. The locomotive has 4 engines instead of the usual 2. Train with real live passengers.



This is an expensive hobby. I guess it is safe to put prices here. These locomotives run from about $5000 to $25000, depending on what you want. They are a little cheaper if you get the parts and assemble them yourself.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5vFOzmL6H8&feature=related

crash2009

Sounds like a fun project

 My only experience with boilers is the one that heats my house.  The boiler is made out of cast iron.  The sections of the boiler are sealed with rubber or some other type of gasket.  I would expect that these gaskets would blow before the boiler blew up.  We try very hard not to blow up because we want to live long enough to see our next birthday.  The pipes coming out of it are all black steel.  The pipes are threaded and sealed together with pipe dope and teflon tape.  We run these boilers at very low pressure (ounces not pounds per square inch) We have safety devices called pressuretrol and/or vaporstat which are designed to shut off the fire when the pressure gets too high.  The pressuretrol shuts off the fire at about 1/10th (1.5psi) the psi of the safety valve.  The safety valve releases pressure at 15 psi.  We are required to have a pressure gauge twice the psi of the safety valve.  We also use these things called a pigtail.  The pigtail is to prevent the steam from cooking the gauges and pressuretrol.

How much air pressure do you need to run the motor you built?  Does your mom have a pressure cooker?  Have you tested your motor with a smaller boiler yet?  Do you want to see your next birthday?     

Rod

Steam Engine

Hi- Steam heating is rather different from the steam area you are interested in as the pressures are very low (under 2 PSI) and the heating systems also don't need the steam volume that is necessary to run a steam engine so I'm not sure that there is much information here to help you.

The following links might be of help to you. They mostly center around building boilers and steam powered engines for small launches (boats) which I have an interest in and they have drawings and instructions on how to build you own. You might also want to research Rankine engines.

Good luck to you! It sounds like an interesting project.

- Rod



http://www.steamboating.net/page6.html



http://www.pcez.com/~artemis/SLAprimer.htm



http://www.steamlaunch.com/



http://www.mosquitoenterprises.com/



Fire Tube boiler- http://www.angelfire.com/mo/allsteamedup/blayout.gif



Water Tube Boiler - http://www.angelfire.com/mo/allsteamedup/watertube.gif



Mono Tube Boiler - http://www.angelfire.com/mo/allsteamedup/monotube.gif



How to build a Mono Tube boiler -  http://www.dangerouslaboratories.org/genboiler.html



You might also want to look up “Doble Boilers” or “Abner Doble”.  Jay Leno has a Doble car and they were built with a unique flash boiler that made steam in three minutes!  (In Google use the words "Jay Leno" and "Doble" and you should find some info on it. The 1925 car went from 0-75 MPH in 10 seconds!



 

crash2009

Thanks Rod

 I especially liked The Doble at Jay Leno's garagehttp://www.jaylenosgarage.com/at-the-garage/steam-cars/1925-doble-series-e-steam-car/