Abstract
II.
AT the present moment attention is being drawn to a new method of increasing the efficiency of the steam engine by pumping heated air into the boiler. It is impossible to conjecture what theoretical considerations could have led Mr. Warsop, the discoverer of the system, to anticipate beneficial results from the adoption of such an expedient, and yet the experiments that have been made in proof of its efficacy are so authoritative that they cannot be repudiated on the ground of their being unsupported by theory. This subject, although much debated of late, is still so ambiguous and obscure that I shall take the present opportunity of stating the difficulties of the case in the hope of eliciting satisfactory explanation. Mr. Warsop's method consists in attaching to a steam engine a forcing pump for the purpose of injecting air into the boiler. The pipe from this forcing pump is formed into a coil in the flue so that the air may absorb a portion of the waste heat. Aft-r entering the boiler the pipe is laid along the bottom, and being perforated with holes allows the air to bubble up through the water at many different points. The result appears to be that, with a given expenditure of fuel, the available power of the engine is considerably increased by the action of the air-pump, notwithstanding that the power for working it is derived from the engine itself. How, then, is this to be explained 1 It is clear that air forced into a receiver cannot without the aid of extraneous heat give back all the power expended upon the forcing pump. There must of necessity be loss of power by friction, and also from the im-possibiliiy in practice of realising all the expansive action of the condensed air corresponding to the compressive action of the pump prior to actual injection taking place. It would be a liberal estimate to assume that one-half of the power expended on the pump is recoverable from the air. Hence, to make up the deficiency by the application of heat, we should have to double the volume of the air, which would require it to be heated to upwards of 500° F, above its initial temperature. Now, in the case of the Warsop arrangement, considering the inconsiderable heating power of the escaping gases to which the air-pipe is exposed; considering also the slow absorbing power of air, and the small-ness of the surface presented by the coiled pipe, it is hard to believe that the air could enter the boiler at such a temperature as I have nimed; but even if it did, where is the surplus power to be found that gives the eng r.e a palpable increase of efficiency? The mere reacti .n of the compressed air, with all the aid it can possibly derive from the absorption of waste heat, would barely save a loss, and certainly could never account for an important gain. It seems obvious, therefore, that whatever beneficial action is exercised by the air must be of an indirect nature, and not the immediate effect of its mechanical energy.
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Sir W. Armstrong on the Coal Question * . Nature 7, 291–294 (1873). https://doi.org/10.1038/007291a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/007291a0