Steam Engine

STEAM ENGINE

A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. Heat is obtained from fuel burnt in a closed firebox .The heat is transferred to the water in a pressurized boiler, ultimately boiling the water and transforming it into saturated steam. Steam in its saturated state is always produced at the temperature of the boiling water, which in turn depends on the steam pressure on the water surface within the boiler. The steam is transferred to the motor unit which uses it to push on pistons to power machinery. The used, cooler, lower pressure steam is exhausted to atmosphere.

The project simulates the working of a steam engine. It illustrates how the linear motion of the piston is converted into rotary motion. The engine is initially at rest. On right clicking, the user is provided with a menu which provides five options-shaded, animate, increase speed, decrease speed, transparent.

The animate option starts the steam engine from rest or stops the engine if it is running. The speed of the engine can then be increased by the increase speed option or decreased by the decrease speed option. The texture of the engine can be changed by the shaded option.There are two textures. One being the normal solid fill and the other being wireframe. The transparent option makes the front portion of the cylinder transparent and shows the up and down motion of the piston.

The simulation helps in understanding the working of the engine. It clearly shows how the linear motion is converted into rotary motion.

Screen Shots

Screenshot showing the initial shaded model of the engine

Screen shot showing the wire frame model of the  engine which is in motion and being rotated about the Y-axis

Download Program Source Code here

Download Full Project Report here