Steam Engine Research/Valve Design Notes

Steam Engine Research

From "Steam Engineering: A Text Book" by William R. King.

=Valve Design=

A defective design can cost as much as 20% loss in fuel consumption.

It can also cause uneven motion resulting in wear on the working parts that can make the engine unsafe.

The book focuses on a slide valve design staring with design of the eccentric to control it's operation. Can the following diagram be adapted to work with a bump valve design somehow?



The bump valve somewhat like half of a slide valve, but instead of being controlled by a separate eccentric, it is controlled by the piston head itself. Admission and cut-off are determined by the length of the valve pin. Exhaust port opening is determined by the cylinder reaching a certain point near the bottom dead center of the stroke.

The Zeuner Valve Diagram can give the following information:


 * Admission at F
 * Cut-off at C
 * Release at Q
 * Compression at Q'
 * Steam lap, OL
 * Exhaust lap, OL'
 * Travel of valve, EE'
 * Maximum opening of port to steam, RE
 * Maximum opening of port to exhaust, R'E''
 * Angular advance of the eccentric, angle DOE