An Approach to the Study of a 19th-Century Sugarcane Mill and Steam Engine through CAD Techniques and Mechanical Engineering

This article shows an approach to the three-dimensional modelling of a sugarcane mill and its associated steam engine, designed by the Robey and Co. engineering company in 1869. In order to obtain the 3D CAD model of said invention, CATIA V5 R20 software has been employed. Various sources of starting material, from the basis of this research and found in the process of searching for relevant information, provide information on the main elements, operating conditions, and mechanism of the machine. Thanks to the three-dimensional geometric modelling carried out, it has been possible to explain, in detail, both its operation and the final assembly of the invention through the assemblies of its different subsets, thereby obtaining a virtual recreation that shows its operation. Likewise, a study has been carried out, from a mechanical engineering viewpoint, of the gear train that transmitted the movement, in order to ascertain the compression force exerted on the sugar cane. This research, related to industrial archaeology, therefore, enables the reader to understand a machine that constituted a milestone in the sugarcane industry, while paying tribute to the English engineer, Robert Robey.

From England to Italy: The Intriguing Story of Poli’s Engine for the King of Naples

An interesting, yet unknown episode concerning the effective permeation of the scientific revolution in eighteenth-century Kingdom of Naples (and Italy more generally) is recounted. The intriguing story of James Watt’s steam engine, prepared to serve a Royal Estate of the King of Naples in Carditello, reveals a fascinating piece of the history of that kingdom, as well as an unknown step in the history of Watt’s steam engine, whose final entrepreneurial success for the celebrated Boulton & Watt company was a direct consequence. This story reveals that, contrary to what claimed in the literature, the first introduction in Italy of the most important technological innovation of the eighteenth century did not take place with the construction of the first steamship of the Mediterranean Sea, but rather thirty years before that, thanks to the incomparable work of Giuseppe Saverio Poli, a leading scholar and an influential figure in the Kingdom of Naples. The tragic epilogue of Poli’s engine accounts for its vanishing from historical memory.

Blockchain and its Application

In this research investigation into Blockchain Technology, its current use and other possible implementation of this protocol are explored. Blockchain offers opportunities for developing advanced digital services. While current research on this becoming the most important issue which must be well addressed. As part of the fourth industrial revolution since the invention of the steam engine, electricity, information technology, Blockchain Technology has been applied in many areas such as finance, judiciary, and commerce. In this current paper, we focused on its potential Voting Application and explore how Blockchain Technology can be used to solve Health Care Issues, Land Registry, Any Financial Sector, etc. Some innovative applications of using blockchain technology for different sectors we also discussed.

Relative Humidity: A Control Valve of the Steam Engine Climate

In the words of Heinrich Hertz in 1885, the Earth is a “gigantic steam engine”. On average, of the planet’s cross section exposed to sunlight, 72 % belong to the global ocean. With a delay of only 2-3 months, most of the heat absorbed there is released by evaporation rather than by thermal radiation. Water vapour is the dominating “greenhouse gas” of the marine troposphere with a typical relative humidity (RH) of 80 % at the surface. Observing the heat transport across the ocean surface permits insight in the powerhouse of the “steam engine”, controlled by the RH at the surface, a quantity that is often considered the “Cinderella” among the climate data. RH of the troposphere also controls cloud formation that is equally fundamental as challenging for climate research. As a precise and perfectly consistent thermodynamic basis for the description of such processes, the new oceanographic standard TEOS-10 was introduced by UNESCO/IOC in 2010 and IUGG in 2011. Its equations cover all thermodynamic properties of liquid water, seawater, ice and humid air, as well as their mutual equilibria and phase transitions. For harmonisation of the inconsistent RH definitions of humid air between meteorology and climatology, the relative fugacity has been defined as a physically more reasonable RH substitute that does not rely on the approximation of ideal gases. Doi: 10.28991/HEF-2021-02-02-06 Full Text: PDF

Power Plants Based on a Steam Drive with a Working Body Closed Circulation

The authors investigated the heat carriers thermodynamic characteristics and the power plant structural components, which ensured the efficient conversion of thermal energy into mechanical and electrical energy.(Research purpose) To conduct modeling for calculating the structure manufacturing technology and studying the power plant characteristics based on a steam engine with given energy parameters.(Materials and methods) The authors carried out mathematical modeling based on the heat and mass transfer laws. To create a prototype model of a steam engine, the recuperation principle based on the “liquid–vapor–liquid” cycle with the use of low-temperature heat carriers was used.(Results and discussion) The authors showed that double transformation of the aggregation state of the working body was much more efficient than its heating. They calculated the characteristics connecting the energy processes of low-temperature heat carriers vaporization (freon R-134a) in the radiator and engine. They revealed dependencies: the radiator heating time from 30 degrees Celsius (ambient temperature) to 100 degrees (maximum operating temperature) at different powers of the heating source (3; 4; 5 kilowatts); density and average density of steam in the radiator from temperature; the steam engine power and the freon steam consumption from the pressure of 0-3.97 megapascals.(Conclusions) The authors determined that the working steam amount, proportional to its density at a temperature of 90 degrees and a pressure of 3.6 megapascals, was 4.75 times less than the liquid freon amount, proportional to its density, at 100 degrees Celsius and a pressure of 3.97 megapascals, the working steam amount was 2 times less than liquid freon. They revealed a limited range of operating temperatures in a steam engine. It was proved that these calculation methods and characteristics determined the structural and energy parameters of the developed power plants based on a steam engine.

Thermodynamics of James Watt – Ignored or not Understood?

In the analysis of the development of thermodynamics as a science, the theoretical work of Sadi Carnot, published in 1824, is generally considered to be the starting point. Carnot studied the cycle of an ideal heat engine and formulated the condition for its maximum efficiency. In this article we examine James Watt’s contributions to the formation of fundamental concepts of thermodynamics, made in the course of his work on improving the Newcomen engine and developing his own steam engine. It is shown that Watt was the first to characterize thermodynamic properties such as latent heat and vapor density. The authors prove Watt’s priority in the studies of the dependence of saturated steam pressure on temperature, in which a critical point was found when the latent heat disappears. These results of Watt anticipated by many decades the studies on the thermodynamic critical state by Th. Andrews and J. Thomson. The article also discusses Wattʼs research on thermodynamic cycles. It is shown that he was the first to study the Rankine cycle with superheated steam, known from the history of thermodynamics. Watt was also the first scientist to introduce the concept of a steam engine’ volumetric work as the product of pressure and volume, and developed a device, the steam pressure indicator, to measure its value. We show the results obtained by Watt with steam to be considerably ahead of Prescott Jouleʼs work on the cooling and condensation of gases during expansion. The article presents an interpretation of Watt’s 1769 patent that is very important as the primary source for a subsequent study and establishment of the principles of energy conversion. The factual material presented in this article suggests that Watt’s scientific research have not been properly understood or simply went unnoticed.

Rolling membrane powered by low-temperature steam as a new approach to generate mechanical energy

How to convert heat energy into other forms of usable energy more efficiently is always crucial for our human society. In traditional heat engines, such as the steam engine and the internal combustion engine, high-grade heat energy can be easily converted into mechanical energy, while a large amount of low-grade heat energy is usually wasted owing to its disadvantage in the temperature level. In this work, for the first time, the generation of mechanical energy from both high- and low-temperature steam is implemented by a hydrophilic polymer membrane. When exposed to water vapor with a temperature ranging from 50 to 100 °C, the membrane repeats rolling from one side to another. In nature, this continuously rolling of membrane is powered by the steam, like a miniaturized “steam engine”. The differential concentration of water vapor (steam) on the two sides of the membrane generates the asymmetric swelling, the curve, and the rolling of the membrane. In particular, results suggest that this membrane based “steam engine” can be powered by the steam with a relatively very low temperature of 50 °C, which indicates a new approach to make use of both the high- and low-temperature heat energy.