Thesis (M.E.)--Sibley college, Cornell University. / Typewritten copy.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Delaware, 2007. / Principal faculty advisor: James G. Mulligan, Dept. of Economics. Includes bibliographical references.

Several studies have examined the life of William Small but only in respect to certain phases of his life, particularly Small's connections to Thomas Jefferson, James Watt, or the Birmingham Lunar Society. In 1758 William Small was recruited for the post of professor of mathematics at the College of William and Mary. From 1760 through 1762, he was Thomas Jefferson's only professor at the College of William and Mary. In 1764 Small returned to England and, with the assistance of Benjamin Franklin and others, became physician and scientific advisor to Matthew Boulton, a wealthy industrialist. Small, Boulton, and Erasmus Darwin established the celebrated Birmingham Lunar Society, which played an important role in the industrialization of Britain in the late eighteenth century. In 1767, Small met James Watt and thus began a collaboration that produced the steam engine. While American scholars have concentrated on Small's influence on Thomas Jefferson, British scholars have focused on Small's role in the Birmingham Lunar Society or his role in the development of the steam engine. This study examines Small's life in its entirety. Areas of Small's life overlooked by previous studies include his early life and education, the substance of his teaching career at the College of William and Mary, and his medical career. The true extent of Small's influences and the connections that he maintained between British and American intellectuals can only be seen by examining his life in its entirety. This study sought to bring together the disparate elements of Small's life in order to make clearer his place in history.

Este trabalho apresenta o estudo multidisciplinar de uma micromáquina a vapor concebida para a utilização em sistemas de geração distribuída. O foco da pesquisa é o desenvolvimento do modelo matemático da micromáquina, que requereu conhecimentos da termodinâmica e suas leis, e a aplicação de conceitos de dinâmica, vibrações e controle, entre outros. Para a validação experimental do modelo foi reconstruída uma micromáquina já existente; também foi realizado o projeto da bancada, a seleção da instrumentação e a sua calibração. O estudo apresenta ainda a comparação entre os resultados teóricos e experimentais, bem como a sua análise e interpretação. / A multidisciplinary study of a micro steam engine conceived for distributed generation systems is presented. The research focuses on the development of the mathematical model of the micro engine, which required the knowledge of Thermodynamics and its laws, and concepts of dynamics, vibration and control, among others. In order to experimentally validate the model, a previous micro engine was redesigned and rebuilt; likewise, a new bench was designed, together with the selection and calibration of the measurement systems. The study also presents the comparison between experimental and theoretical results, as well as their analysis and discussion.

This research project was about the combined organic Rankine cycle which extracted energy from the exhaust gas of a diesel engine. There was a study about significant properties of suitable working fluids. The chosen working fluid, R134a, was used to operate at the dry condition when it exited the steam piston engine. Furthermore, R134a is environmentally friendly with low environmental impact. It was also compatible with sealing materials. There were calibrations for the components of the combined Rankine cycle. The efficiency of the heat exchanger converting exhaust heat from the diesel engine to vaporize R134a was 89%. The average efficiency of the generator was 50%. The hydraulic pump used for the combined Rankine cycle showed a transporting problem, as vapor-lock occurred when the pump ran for about 1 minute. The output of the combined Rankine cycle was normalized to compensate for the parasitic losses of a virtual vane pump used in hydraulic systems for the 6 liter diesel engines. There were three different vane pump widths from different pumps to compare frictional loss. The pump with the smallest vane width presented the least frictional mean effective pressure (fmep) (0.26 kPa) when scaled with the displacement of the GMC Sierra 6 liter diesel engine. The power output of the Rankine cycle was scaled to brake mean effective pressure (bmep) to compare with the frictional mean effective pressure. The maximum bmep was at 0.071 kPa when diesel engine had rotational speed at 2190 RPM. The power outputs of the organic Rankine compensated partially the frictional loss of the vane pumps in the 6 liter diesel engine. By using R134a, the condensing pressure was 0.8 MPa; hence, the power outputs from steam engine were limited. Therefore, refrigerants with lower condensing pressure were needed. There were proposal for improvement of the organic Rankine by substituting R134a by R123 (0.1 MPa), R21 (0.2 MPa), and R114 (0.25 MPa) . / text

Este trabalho apresenta o estudo multidisciplinar de uma micromáquina a vapor concebida para a utilização em sistemas de geração distribuída. O foco da pesquisa é o desenvolvimento do modelo matemático da micromáquina, que requereu conhecimentos da termodinâmica e suas leis, e a aplicação de conceitos de dinâmica, vibrações e controle, entre outros. Para a validação experimental do modelo foi reconstruída uma micromáquina já existente; também foi realizado o projeto da bancada, a seleção da instrumentação e a sua calibração. O estudo apresenta ainda a comparação entre os resultados teóricos e experimentais, bem como a sua análise e interpretação. / A multidisciplinary study of a micro steam engine conceived for distributed generation systems is presented. The research focuses on the development of the mathematical model of the micro engine, which required the knowledge of Thermodynamics and its laws, and concepts of dynamics, vibration and control, among others. In order to experimentally validate the model, a previous micro engine was redesigned and rebuilt; likewise, a new bench was designed, together with the selection and calibration of the measurement systems. The study also presents the comparison between experimental and theoretical results, as well as their analysis and discussion.

Possible modern application of piston steam engine is electricity production using steam made by solar energy. This diploma thesis focuses on designing such piston steam engine Described solution would be effective as an off grid electricity generator, because alternative source of steam could be added for occasions, when sunlight is not powerfull enough for steam production.

The content of this dissertation is to utilize foundations of heat consumption in Velký Karlov and to propose and replace the main district heating plant into the heating plant which uses biomass as its fuel. With techno-economic evaluation of the annual operating central heating plant evaluate the suitability of using a steam turbine or steam engine. The proposal for a steam turbine is chosen by the preliminary calculation. There are showed suitable possibilities of working and its evaluation considered to return period.

This thesis deals with the possibilities of using waste heat for power generation with a focusing on biogas plants (BGS). The produced biogas is mainly used for combustion in cogeneration units with internal combustion piston engines. The first part this paper describes the biogas plants. The division of BGS and the biogas processing is mentioned there. Another part is focused on the combined production of electricity and heat. The principles and description various types of cogeneration technologies are presented here. The following are specific options for waste heat utilization for biogas plants. The last section contains proposals to increase electricity production by the BGS with the steam engine and economic evaluation of these proposals is made.

A novel compact steam engine design could be used to replace current combustion engines in the rapidly changing world of renewable energy. Especially with the increased research into alternative fuels such as hydrogen fuel cells and methane, which would vastly improve the efficiency of a steam engine. The thesis focuses on a rotating valve chamber, which is made up of an actuating mechanism, a sealing mechanism, a rotating valve, and its housing. The modern steam engine cannot operate on conventional oil lubrication because it would degrade and clog the steam engine’s micro tubes, making it even more complex due to the rise of tribological issues. As a result, the most difficult challenge is selecting compatible materials for the components in this chamber, which is also subjected to temperatures of 450 degrees Celsius and pressures of up to 25 MPa. In order for the shaft to translate and rotate at the same time, an actuating mechanism was required. Finally, a sealing solution that can withstand the harsh conditions. As a result, a material research followed by material testing using a test rig yielded comparable results across a laser microscope. Furthermore, the actuating mechanism was designed in Solid edge, and structural analysis was conducted in Ansys that was used to validate the optimizations. For ease of understanding, the final design was 3D printed. / En ny kompakt ångmotordesign kan användas för att ersätta nuvarande förbränningsmotorer i den föränderliga energins snabbt föränderliga värld. Särskilt med den ökade forskningen om alternativa bränslen som vätebränsleceller och metan, vilket skulle förbättra effektiviteten hos en ångmotor. Avhandlingen fokuserar på en roterande ventilkammare, som består av en manövreringsmekanism, en tätningsmekanism, en roterande ventil och dess hus. Den moderna ångmotorn kan inte fungera med konventionell oljesmörjning eftersom den skulle försämra och täppa till ångmaskinens mikrorör, vilket gör den ännu mer komplex på grund av uppkomsten av tribologiska problem. Som ett resultat är den svåraste utmaningen att välja kompatibla material för komponenterna i denna kammare, som också utsätts för temperaturer på 450 grader Celsius och tryck på upp till 25 MPa. För att axeln skulle översättas och rotera samtidigt krävdes en manövreringsmekanism. Slutligen en tätningslösning som tål de hårda förhållandena. Som ett resultat gav en materialforskning följt av materialtestning med en testrigg jämförbara resultat över ett lasermikroskop. Vidare utformades manövreringsmekanismen i Solidedge, och strukturanalys utfördes i Ansys som användes för att validera optimeringarna. För att underlätta förståelsen var den slutliga designen 3D ­tryckt.