[56]“Many tests have been undertaken to ascertain the evaporative power of different classes of boilers in actual work; but few of these are of any value, owing to the unreliable means usually employed to measure the quantity of water evaporated. The easiest method, and consequently the one most frequently adopted, is to measure the quantity by the difference of its height in the water-gauge glass at the beginning and end of the trial, and also at intermediate stages. This method is very rude and uncertain, since there can be little doubt that in many boilers at work the surface of the water is not level, but is usually higher over the furnace, or where the greatest ebullition occurs. The difference in height at any moment will greatly depend upon the intensity of the ebullition, which is ever varying during the intervals between firing. With mechanical firing the difference of height is probably reduced to a minimum.
[56] From “A Treatise on Steam Boilers,” by Robert Wilson.
“The meters employed for measuring the water are sometimes not trustworthy. The only sure method of ascertaining the quantity of water evaporated is by actual measurement with a cistern or vessel whose cubic contents are accurately known. The quantity of water in the boiler before and after the trial should be measured at the same temperature, which should not exceed 212° to insure accuracy. But even when the amount of water introduced and the quantity passed off from the boiler are accurately ascertained, there yet remains a doubt as to how much has been actually evaporated, and how much may have passed off in priming, unless the trial has been conducted with the boiler open to the atmosphere, which appears to be the only condition under which accuracy can be insured, unless a suitable apparatus can be provided for accurately measuring the weight and temperature of all the steam and water given off, when the boiler is working above atmospheric pressure.
“There are very few boilers that do not prime more or less, and the quantity of water passed off in this manner is sometimes very considerable, and has led to the impossible results of 16 and 17 lbs. of water evaporated per lb. of ordinary coal in locomotive and water-tube boilers being seriously recorded. Externally fired boilers, that have given the moderate result of 5 lbs. of water per lb. of coal at atmospheric pressure, have shown the unexpected result of 10 and 12 lbs. of water evaporated at 40 lbs. pressure. In fact, unless the amount of water passed over with the steam by priming or foaming, when working under pressure, can be accurately ascertained, the evaporative results are not to be relied upon, however careful in other respects the trial may have been conducted. It is customary to give the quantity of water evaporated from and at a temperature of 212°, or the boiling point at atmospheric pressure, to which the results of evaporation are reduced.”
The quantity corresponding to any temperature of feed water and working pressure can readily be found with the aid of the annexed table, taken from The Encyclopædia Britannica, wherein are presented the relations of the properties of steam, as now accepted by the best authorities.
Table Giving the Pressure, Temperature, and Volume of Steam.
Here we see that at 212° the total quantity of heat in the steam is 1178.1°, which gives a difference of 966.1°. This heat, usually termed latent, is absorbed in performing the work of expanding the particles of water from the liquid to the gaseous state. Now, suppose the water is evaporated at 60 lbs. pressure, the steam will have a temperature of 307°, and a total heat of 1207°. If the feed has been introduced at 60°, it is evident that 1147° of heat have been imparted. As the amount evaporated is inversely proportional to the quantity of heat required, we have 1147 ÷ 966 = 1.2. Multiplying by this factor, the quantity evaporated at 60 lbs. pressure from 60°, we obtain the amount that would be evaporated at 212° by the same quantity of fuel.
By the same table can be ascertained the comparatively small increase of heat required to evaporate water at higher pressures. Suppose we take water evaporated at 45 lbs. pressure from a feed temperature of 60°, then each lb. of water will require 1202.7 - 60 = 1142.7 for its conversion into steam. If we take the pressure at 100 lbs., we shall have 1216.9 - 60 = 1156.9° as the quantity required. The difference between these two total quantities is only 14.2°, and is so small as to be scarcely worth considering. Leaving out of account the loss due to the slight reduction of the conducting power of the material, the increased amount of heat required for the higher pressure will be only 1⁄36 of the total heat required at 60 lbs. With an evaporation of 7 lbs. of water from 1 lb. of coal, it will be obtained by using 1⁄563 more fuel, or about 1 lb. in about 556 lbs., a quantity not appreciable to the ordinary modes of weighing coal. The economy is then manifest of using steam of high pressures when at the same time advantage is taken of the facilities it offers for working the steam more expansively to the engine cylinders.
The saving that may be effected by heating the feed water may be shown as follows: