Thermal Power Plant with Steam Engine Trainer

A mobile laboratory-scale steam plant for experiments in thermodynamic principles. It helps students to understand:

• Thermodynamic laws of energy conservation
• Steady flow energy equation
• Thermal efficiency and the control surface
• Rankine Cycle Analysis
• The Willans line

A mobile frame contains all the parts of the test set. An electric pump draws from a reservoir (included) to deliver water to an electrically-heated boiler. The boiler includes a safety valve, water level gauge and ‘blow-down cock’. The boiler produces steam to turn a two-cylinder steam motor. The used steam from the motor outlet passes through a mains water-cooled condenser, then down to a waste tank or to a measuring vessel (supplied). TecQuipment supply a stopwatch and thermometer to allow accurate measurement of the flow and temperature of the condensate (steam flow).

The equipment includes all instruments needed for the experiments. These include a band-brake dynamometer with a digital torque and speed display, to measure and display motor speed, torque and power. Thermocouples connect to a digital temperature display to measure and display temperatures at key points in the test set. A throttling calorimeter allows students to measure the dryness fraction of the steam.

Two mechanical gauges show the boiler and engine inlet pressures. A meter shows the electrical power supplied to the heaters in the boiler.

For quicker tests with easier recording of results, TecQuipment can supply the optional Versatile Data Acquisition System (VDAS®). This gives accurate real-time data capture, monitoring and display, calculation and charting of all the important readings on a computer.