Closed steam turbine system

[deleted-616551]

Hi! Need help with designing a closed system for a steam turbine so that I can recycle the steam. Please let me know if ideas. Thanks

[norman40]

Hi Pinkvilla,

One approach is to condense the steam after exiting the turbine (or engine). More information is provided in the following links:

https://www.turbinesinfo.com/types-of-steam-turbines/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_turbine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condensin ... locomotive

I hope this helps. Please ask again if you have more questions.

A. Norman

[deleted-616551]

Hi all! We were successful in building a steam turbine that would produce enough steam to turn a turbine made of plastic spoons. I need ideas for how we can attach a dc motor to the turbine as well as how we should measure the steam output?
Thank you in advance

Moderator Note: I've merged this post with your previous post - please keep your posts together so the expert who was helping you will see that you have posted a follow-up question. Thank you!

[norman40]

Hi Pinkvilla,

Congratulations on building a working steam turbine.

I'm assuming that you're looking for ideas on connecting a dc generator to the turbine to demonstrate electricity production. If you want to make a generator, there's a Science Buddies project that describes how to do it at the following link.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ty#summary

To make your turbine turn a generator (or dc motor) you'll need to work out a way to connect the turbine to the generator shaft. If you designed the turbine so that it is rotating on a stationary axle, you might try attaching a rod to the center of the turbine so that the rod spins along with the turbine. Connecting this rod to the generator shaft would make the generator turn to produce electricity.

If the turbine is designed with a axle that turns with the turbine, you could connect the axle directly to the generator shaft.

To test measure the steam output, you could weigh the amount of water in the boiler at the beginning and end of a test run of your turbine. The weight of water lost divided by the time the turbine ran would be a crude indication of the steam mass flow rate. Other ways to measure steam output involve using flow rate sensors or calculations. You might try searching “steam flow measurement” for more information on the technology available.

I hope this helps. Please ask again if you have more questions.

A. Norman

[deleted-616551]

Thank you very much for your ideas! Regarding measuring steam output, what are your thoughts on measuring rpms....the turbine is made of 8 plastic spoons, one is of a different color and we would record the rpm. Thanks!

[norman40]

Hi Pinkvilla,

I think it would be much easier to measure the turbine speed than to measure the steam flow rate. Turbine speed is related to the steam flow but the relationship is probably fairly complicated.

To measure rpms you might try making a video of your turbine as it spins. Place a clock with a second hand in the video frame. During slow motion playback count the turbine revolutions for 15 seconds as indicated by the clock in the video frame. Multiply the count by 4 to get rpm.

If the video idea doesn't work, you could try a non-contact tachometer for the measurements. Here's an example of a tachometer that should work for this application:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000I ... B000I5LDVC

I hope this helps. Please ask again if you have more questions.

A. Norman