What Is A Steam Engine?
A steam engine can simply be defined as an engine in which steam is used to produce or generate power. Steam engine is the oldest engine available to the mankind. Steam engine was the major participator in the revolution of industrial development. Even in modern world, principal of steam engine is used to generate 50 % of the electricity of the world.
Principal of steam engine
Steam engine actually made up of two major parts- a steam generator and a motor. Modern steam engines also contain a condenser which helps in collecting water from residual steam of the process. Superheaters induce very high temperatures to the steam. Pumps of the steam engine maintain constant water flow in the system. In traditional steam engines burning of coal or wood was used to generate enough heat for production of steam. But in modern steam engines geothermal heat tapping or nuclear reactions are used in order to generate enough heat.
History of steam engine
Steam engine was discovered and first used even in 1st century itself. But at that time steam engine was not used for power generations, it was just a scientific model to study the properties of steam. But in early 17th century serious experimentation was done on steam engine by Taqi al-Din and Giovanni Brance. Then in the end of 17th century, first true steam engine was developed by Thomas Savery. That steam engine was used by Thomas, to pump the water. With very less efficiencies this steam engine was even used for mining processes. Just after two decades of this innovation Thomas Newcomen developed a very useful form of the steam engine. This engine was having great applications in mining processes. And after some time James Watt invented an improved and much more efficient steam engine. This engine was able to give 400% more output with burning of same amount of coal as used in Newcomen’s engine.
Uses of Steam engine
Steam engine which was invented by James watt was a very important event in the history of industrial development. Before the invention of this efficient steam engine it was a must to construct a factory near flowing water, so that power could be supplied to the waterwheels. Invention of steam engine solved this problem of limited locations. Then in 19th century modern steam engine was presented to the world. This engine was very small in size and even much more efficient then previous versions. After this it was possible to place this steam engine at anywhere. Even for the first time it was possible to run vehicles with the help of the steam engine. This invention provided a very economic and efficient mode of transportation i.e. trains running with steam engines.
Most commonly known steam engine is the locomotive engine. A major disadvantage of this engine is that it releases a large amount of extra steam into environment and hence it recaptures very less amount of water, which decreases its efficiency. Steam engine is major player of electricity generation in the world. Heat is generated in power plants by burning coal or by means of nuclear reactions. Then this generated heat is used to generate steam from the water. This steam then used to run turbines, by which electricity gets generated. Steam engine should never be considered as a history object; they are still in use and playing major roles in power generation, through out the world. Scientists are still working to improve the efficiency of the engine and to bring new advancements in the power generation.
