US2060399A

US2060399A - Condensation evaporator

Info

Publication number: US2060399A
Application number: US700677A
Authority: US
Inventors: Jr Richard J Mccarty
Original assignee: Bethlehem Steel Corp
Current assignee: Bethlehem Steel Corp
Priority date: 1933-12-02
Filing date: 1933-12-02
Publication date: 1936-11-10
Anticipated expiration: 1953-11-10

Description

Nov. 10, 1936.

J. M CARTY. JR

CONDENSATION EVAPORATOR Filed Dec. 2, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet l Nov. 10, 1936. R. J. MCCARTY, J R 2,060,399

CONDENSAIION EVAPORATOR Filed Dec. 2, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 83 fleZ/ear J Patented Nov. 10, 1936 I PATENT OFFICE CONDENSATION EVAPORATOR.

Richard J. McCarty, Jr., Bethlehem, Pa., assignor to Bethlehem Steel Company, a corporation of Pennsylvania Application December 2, 1933, Serial No. 700,677

10 Claims.

This invention relates-to a condensation evaporator for steam lines, and more particularly to a condensationevaporator for a steam line serving an auxiliary locomotive.

It has. been a practice when possible to connect the auxiliary locomotive steam pipe line direct to the super-heater header of the main locomotive so that the auxiliary locomotive can be operated independently of the main locomotive. This arrangement, however, can only be applied where the mainlocomotive has a front end throttle, but when a dome throttle is used, then the steam line to the auxiliary is in some cases connected to" the steam pipe of the main locomotive adlament the valve chamber.

When the auxiliary'steam line is connected to the superheater. header or its equivalent, then the pipe leading to the auxiliary is under pressure continuously, down as far as the throttle for the auxiliary locomotive, and therefore, when the auxiliary engine is not being used, the steam in this pipe is subject to condensation, and being under boiler pressure it is difiicult to keep drained. Consequently, when the auxiliary throttle is opened, considerable condensate in the form of water passes through the steam line and into the. auxiliary engine cylinders, and sometimes with obvious serious results.

In order to overcome this difiiculty, I have devised-means, whereby the water in the steam line is pocketed or trapped while the steam is passed over the trap and the water is sprayed back into the live steam and thus reevaporated before enteringthe engine cylinders.

An object of this invention is to trap the water in such a way that it cannot damage the auxiliary' engine by impact and by setting up hydraulic conditions within the auxiliary engine cylinders- Another object is to reduce heat losses that would-.otherwise take place if the condensate were drained or otherwise disposed of in some way to the atmosphere.

The ,novelfeatures of my invention will be more fully'understood from the following descriptionand claims taken with the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal view of the front end of a locomotive boiler partly in section, showing the general arrangement of the application of my invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view, partly in section, of the steam by-pass and water trap as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view through the bypass pipe and water collecting pipe taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.,

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the spray or choke nozzle as shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is an end view of the spray nozzle. 5.

Fig. 6 is a view in part, similar to Fig. 1, showing a modification in the arrangement of piping.

Fig. 7 is a side elevation of a main locomotive and its tender with an auxiliary locomotive embodying my invention. 10

Referring to Fig. 1, numeral l0 represents generally, the locomotive boiler. The shut-01f valve II, dry pipe I2, the superheater header I3, front end main throttle I4 and steam pipes I5 are of the usual construction. To the header I3 is con- 15 nected pipe I6 for supplying superheated steam to the auxiliary locomotive engine 28 (shown in Fig. 7). which may be of the type shown in the Patent No. 1,878,838 to one C. H. Froelich of September 20, 1932, or other similar engine 20 which may be placed under the tender or mounted on the trailer truck. Pipe I6 is brought out through the shell of the smoke box at H and is connected to the auxiliary locomotive throttle valve I8. At a short distance to the rear of 25 valve I8, I provide a steam by-pass pipe I9 positioned above the straight line pipe 20. Openings 2| and 22 are cut in pipe 20 and the ends of pipe I9 are shaped to conform with these openings and then welded to the straight pipe 20' so as to form 30 Y connections. Near the Y branch opening 22, I insert in pipe 20, a plug 23 which has a series of holes 24 drilled through its length. The plug is welded to pipe 20 as shown at 25. The drilled plug, thus installed, constitutes a 35 choke and spray nozzle for the water to be trapped in pipe 20. It might be stated here that the orifices through the plug 23 may be other than plain drilled holes, and that I do not limit myself to this particular construction. The pipes 40 I9 and 20 are preferably the same size.

Referring now to Fig. '7 I show a main locomotive and its tender. The tender comprises as its rear truck the auxiliary locomotive 21 driven by its engine 28 which is connected, as hereinbe- 45 fore stated, by means of the pipe I6 to the superheater header I3 shown in Fig. 1.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art, that when the steam line to the auxiliary engine is connected to a source of steam supply back of 50 the main throttle valve I4 in a manner similar to that shown in Fig. 1, that considerable condensation will collect in the lower part of pipe I6, especially in that portion of the pipe outside of the smoke-box even though it be well insulated, 55

and that when the auxiliary throttle I8 is opened, this water, formed by condensation, will be released suddenly and shot back into pipe 20 by the action of the steam, where it is pocketed by the retarding action of plug 23. The steam behind the water will then pass through pipe l9 and around the pocketed water, and at the same time the steam will force the water through the orifices of the plug so as to break it up into small streams where it is again picked up by the superheated steam and reevaporated. In this way, the water will be gradually reconverted into steam, which will then pass to the auxiliary engine and perform an equivalent amount of work.

Upon opening of valve I8, the steam flows at high velocity from the higher pressure to the lower pressure, thereby insuring the effectiveness of the spraying and reevaporation of the water.

My invention is also applicable to a locomotive Where a dome throttle is used, or where steam for the auxiliary engine is taken from the steam pipe [5 ahead of the main throttle, as shown in Fig. 6 by the pipe connection 26. In an arrangement such as this, the tendency to collect water from condensation is not as great as in the case Where the steam is taken from the superheater where it is under continuous pressure. Nevertheless, any water thus collected would be disposed of just as effectively.

In order to dispose of the condensation, this invention takes advantage of the fact that the superheated steam is at a higher temperature than the condensate, and that when the condensate is broken up into the form of fine streams or spray and injected into the rapidly moving stream of superheated steam, the condensate is again reevaporated so as to produce useful energy. This has another advantage in reducing the heat loss, should the condensate be disposed of in some way to the atmosphere.

I also take advantage of the fact that this water, will in a large part be reevaporated by the superheat in the steam, thereby increasing the total volume of the steam at the moment of starting the auxiliary engine without greatly decreasing the temperature of the steam.

Reevaporation is also assisted by reason of the fact that the heated condensate on being atomized is expanded and flashed into steam due to the differential pressure on opposite sides of the spray plug when the throttle opened. This difierence in pressure is emphasized by the rush of steam from the by-pass pipe in an angular direction past the end of the spray plug, which produces a siphonic or vacuum eiTect at its delivery end.

The advantages of my invention will be apparent to steam engineers who have experienced difficulty along similar lines, and while I have shown my invention in one form, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof, and I desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as are imposed by the prior art, or as are specifically set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In combination with a steam locomotive having an auxiliary engine, means for generating steam, a steam supply line for supplying steam to the auxiliary engine, a portion of said steam supply line being substantially horizontal, communicating branch connections in said portion arranged so as to form an outside by-pass, and an orificed device in said portion positioned intermediate the branches of said by-pass, but closer to one of said branches than to the other branch.

2. In combination with a steam locomotive having an auxiliary engine, means for generating steam, a steam supply line for supplying steam to the auxiliary engine comprising a substantially horizontal section of pipe, a branch pipe, the axis of which is outside of said horizontal section and arranged so as to form an outside passageway communicating with the passageway of said horizontal section at longitudinally spaced points, and a combined flow restricting and spraying device in said horizontal section positioned intermediate said communicating points.

3. In combination with a steam locomotive having an auxiliary engine, means for generating steam, a steam supply line for supplying steam to the auxiliary engine, a portion of said steam supply line being substantially horizontal, communicating oppositely inclined Y branch connections in said portion arranged so as to form a by-pass in spaced relation to said portion, and a. plug having a plurality of small orifices extending therethrough secured in said portion intermediate said Y branches but relatively close to the Y branch at the delivery end of said by-pass.

4. In a device for disposing of condensate in a steam line, comprising means for trapping the condensate as it enters said device, means to bypass the steam following the condensate past the entrapped condensate and to return it to the steam line, and means for causing the breaking up of the entrapped condensate and again delivering it to the steam line in the presence of the by-passed steam by the action of the steam behind the condensate, whereby the condensate is reevaporated and reconverted into useful energy.

5. In a device for disposing of condensate in a steam line supplying superheated steam to an engine, means comprising a pocket for receiving the condensate entering said device, means comprising a branched conduit arranged so as to bypass the steam entering said device past the pocketed condensate, and a spray nozzle at the delivery end of said pocket for atomizing and again returning the pocketed condensate into the steam line by the action of the steam entering said pocket, whereby the condensate is mingled with the superheated steam from the by-pass and thus reevaporated before entering the engine.

6. In combination with a steam locomotive having an auxiliary engine, pipes connecting the boiler of the locomotive and the auxiliary engine, of means for receiving condensate accumulating in the pipe to said auxiliary engine, and means for atomizing and returning said condensate to the auxiliary steam line by the action of live steam within said pipes so as to reevaporate said condensate before reaching said auxiliary engine.

7. In combination with a steam locomotive having an auxiliary engine, means for generating superheated steam, a steam line for supplying superheated steam to the auxiliary engine, of means for pocketing the condensate accumulating in said steam line, and means for atomizing and returning said condensate to said steam line by the action of superheated steam within said steam line so as to reevaporate said condensate before reaching said auxiliary engine.

8. In combination with a steam locomotive having an auxiliary engine, means for generating superheated steam, a steam line for supplying superheated steam to the auxiliary engine, of separating means comprising a water trap and a steam by-pass for separating the water accumulating in said steam line from the steam, and means for atomizing and returning said water to said steam line by the action of superheated steam within said steam line, whereby to dispose of said water by converting it into useful energy.

9. In combination with a steam locomotive having an auxiliary engine, a steam generator and a superheater having a header, a main throttle valve forward of said header for controlling the steam to the main engine, an auxiliary steam line connecting said header and said auxiliary engine, an auxiliary throttle in said auxiliary line, of means for separating from the steam the water formed by condensation in the auxiliary line between said auxiliary throttle and said header upon the opening of the auxiliary throttle, means for by-passing superheated steam outside of the water separating means, and means for spraying the separated Water back into the steam line in the presence of the steam issuing from said by-pass, whereby to reevaporate said water before entering the auxiliary engine.

10. In combination with a steam locomotive having an auxiliary engine operable independently of the main engine, a boiler provided with a superheater having a header, a main throttle valve positioned forward of said header for controlling the steam to the main engine, an auxiliary steam line including an auxiliary throttle for supplying superheated steam to the auxiliary engine, that part of the auxiliary line between the superheater and said auxiliary throttle being connected to the superheater so as to be under continuous pressure, of means upon the opening of said auxiliary throttle for separating from the steam the water collecting in that part of the line forward of the auxiliary throttle, and means for quickly reevaporating said water in the presence of superheated steam passing to said auxiliary engine.

RICHARD J. McCAR'I'Y, JR.