Vehicle Steam Engine

This invention relates to the means used for the arrangement of water vehicle traffic, more specifically, to the field of jet propulsion engines, and can be used for the arrangement of water and ground vehicle traffic, including railway vehicle traffic, both in the forward and backward directions.

Known (RU Patent 2082825) is a heat engine comprising a steam boiler, an external heat source, an expanding machine, a steam condensing refrigerator, a booster liquid pump and a system of heat generators. Said expanding machine has a cylinder and piston design allowing heat supply to the cylinder from said external heat source, said steam boiler is in the form of a steam receiver, and said system of heat generators comprises two main regenerator sections connecting said cylinder and said steam boiler via a suction valve, and an additional regenerator with two flow circuits one of which connects said main regenerator and said steam condensing refrigerator, and the other connects said steam condensing refrigerator and said steam boiler via said booster liquid pump.

Disadvantage of said engine is its complex design.

Known (RU Patent 2257512) is a means for creating motion comprising an up to 100 ⁰ C feedwater tank and a steam boiler. Said feedwater tank comprises heat insulating walls a feedwater suction

port with a cap and a feedwater discharge port. Said steam boiler comprises at least a burner, steam generating heating surfaces with a water manifold connected to said feedwater tank feedwater discharge port, a steam overheater comprising a steam manifold the suction port of which is connected to the discharge port of the steam and water manifold of said steam generating heating surfaces and the discharge port of which is connected to the high pressure steam consumer, e.g. a steam turbine. Said steam turbine can be connected via a reduction gear directly to the motion generating unit of a vehicle or connected to a power generator installed on a vehicle the electric power generated by which can be used for the power supply of the vehicle electric engines. The product high pressure steam can alternatively be used for jet propulsion in some types of vehicles, e.g. missiles.

Disadvantage of said device is its low efficiency.

Known (RU Patent 2054563) is a steam and gas engine design comprising a direct flow steam generator a combustion product and steam mixing chamber the discharge port of which has a set of directing nozzles, a single-crown impulse turbine with an exhaust heat utilizer, a consumer connected to the turbine shaft via reduction gears, e.g. a screw propeller, and a water pump the discharge port of which is connected to said steam generator, a fuel supply unit and an oxidizer. Said steam generator is in the form of a fire tube the diameter of which decreases in the combustion product movement direction and the outer wall of which is covered with a small-diameter coiled pipe the discharge port of which is connected to the mixing chamber impulse nozzle, said set of directing nozzles

being located at the discharge side of an additional Laval nozzle the suction port of which is provided in said mixing chamber coaxially with said impulse nozzle, the centripetal turbine blades are rigidly connected with a heat conducting disc, wherein said oxidizer supply unit is in the form of a centrifugal compressor the blading of which is installed on the reverse side of said heat conducting disc.

Disadvantage of said technical solution is its complex design.

Known also (RU Patent 2257512) is a means for creating motion comprising an up to 100 ⁰ C feedwater tank and a steam boiler wherein the steam discharge port of said steam boiler is connected to a steam turbine connected via a reduction gear directly to the motion generating unit of a vehicle or connected to a power generator installed on a vehicle the electric power generated by which can be used for the power supply of the vehicle electric engines.

Disadvantage of said technical solution is its low efficiency.

Therefore the object of this invention is to provide a highly efficient vehicle steam engine.

Said object can be achieved by using a boat engine comprising a steam boiler one steam discharge port of which is preferably connected to a steam turbine. Said boat engine additionally comprises a steam distribution device and at least one jet propulsion tube, another steam discharge port of said steam boiler being connected to said steam distribution device via a vent. The discharge ports of said steam distribution device are connected to said jet propulsion tubes at the motion direction side, wherein the

suction side of the tubes is protected with a mesh, and the second steam discharge port of said steam boiler is connected, preferably, via said steam turbine, to the suction ports in the form of perforated tubes installed inside said jet propulsion tubes at the motion direction side. Said perforated tubes extend to the inside of said jet propulsion tubes to the half length of said jet propulsion tubes. Said steam boiler is preferably connected to said steam turbine via a vent or a driven valve. The number of said jet propulsion tubes may differ depending on the size of the water vehicle said boat engine is installed on. Preferably, at least two jet propulsion tubes installed in parallel are used. Reverse jet propulsion is basically developed by additionally introducing the steam distribution device discharge port and the additional steam discharge ports of said steam boiler (via said additional perforated tubes), via an additional vent, inside said jet propulsion tubes at the side opposite to said protective mesh. A water vehicle can be additionally equipped with motion control jet propulsion tubes as motion control means. In that latter case, the additional discharge ports of said steam distribution device and the additional steam suction ports of said steam boiler (via said additional perforated tubes) can be introduced via an additional vent to said additional motion control jet propulsion tubes. A feedwater tank or a water desalinating device can be additionally fitted on said steam engine as steam engine service life extension means.

Said object can be alternatively achieved by using a ground vehicle engine comprising a steam boiler the steam discharge port of which is connected to the suction port of a turbine the shaft of

which is connected to the vehicle propulsion system said turbine comprising at least two steam supply ports the axes of which do not coincide with said turbine rotor radial direction and one steam discharge port, wherein the port spacing in at least one of the port pairs differs from the port spacing in other port pairs, the turbine rotor surface has at least three cavities the axes of which are parallel to the steam supply port axes and the bottom of which has a spherical shape, further wherein the cavity spacing in at least one of adjacent cavity pairs differs from the cavity spacing in other adjacent cavity pairs. Said engine may additionally comprise a feedwaiter tank connected to said steam boiler via a vent or a valve. For engine water volume saving purposes, said steam discharge port is preferably connected to the suction port of a steam condensing refrigerator, in which case the discharge port of said steam condensing refrigerator is preferably connected to the suction port of said feedwater tank or said steam boiler. The steam boiler discharge port can be fitted with a steam distribution device separating the steam flows to the turbine steam supply ports.

Said turbine rotor surface cavities act as blades providing turbine rotor rotation upon steam exposure.

The use of said-shaped cavities is dictated by the impossibility of exposing turbine blades to the entire quantity of steam due to the impossibility of leak-free blading arrangement in the turbine casing. Some portion of steam will bypass said blades thus not performing useful work. If turbine rotor surface cavities are used instead of blading, almost the entire quantity of steam discharged from said steam supply port performs useful work, i.e.

provides for turbine rotor rotation about the turbine rotor axis. As said turbine rotor axis is rigidly connected to the driving shaft of the ground vehicle, the turbine rotor rotation is transmitted to said driving shaft of the ground vehicle. If a steam distribution device is used, the steam supply to the turbine can be controlled in a manner for each new steam portion to be discharged from the steam supply port exactly at the moment when a turbine rotor surface cavity matches said steam supply port.

The number of steam turbine steam supply ports depends on the turbine diameter. A strict requirement to steam supply port arrangement is to exclude steam supply from one steam supply port simultaneously to two turbine rotor surface cavities. Similarly, the number of rotor surface cavities depends on the turbine rotor dimensions and is governed by the abovementioned requirement.

Any steam boiler that can be used in the design suggested herein comprises a heated water tank, a water heating means and a steam overheating means. Said steam boiler can be fueled by any type of fuel capable of stable water heating to the boiling point. Said steam turbine is required for generating electric power for vehicle onboard consumers. Said steam distribution device is basically a multipass device (a vent) the casing of which comprises one steam suction nipple and a set of steam discharge nipples successively connected to said by steam suction nipple by rotating (circular or linear) of the mobile section of said steam distribution device.

The drawing below shows schematic of the basic embodiment of said water vehicle engine suggested herein, wherein

the following notations are used: (1) steam boiler, (2) steam turbine, (3) steam distribution device, (4) jet propulsion tubes and (5) perforated tubes.

The basic embodiment of said water vehicle engine operates as follows.

The steam is discharged from the heated steam boiler and passes via the second steam discharge port to the suction port of said steam turbine the rotor of which is connected to the electric power generator shaft generating electric power for the water vehicle needs; for example, said electric power can be used for controlling the operation of said steam distribution device and for steam boiler servicing. Simultaneously, the steam discharged from said steam boiler via the first steam discharge port to said steam distribution device that can be, for example, in the form of a multipass vent. The steam is distributed through said steam distribution device and pipelines in a preset sequence to said jet propulsion tubes. The steam discharge port of said steam turbine is connected via pipelines to said perforated tubes extending to the inside of said jet propulsion tubes to the half length of said jet propulsion tubes. The steam supplied via said perforated tubes to said jet propulsion tubes prevents the breakage of said jet propulsion tubes. The water vehicle starts moving in the direction opposite to the direction of steam supply to said jet propulsion tubes.

If reverse water vehicle motion is required, the steam can be supplied from the opposite side of said jet propulsion tubes.

The motion of the water vehicle can be controlled (if two or more jet propulsion tubes are used) by supplying steam to part of said jet propulsion tubes or by supplying steam in the opposite direction (examples of water vehicle engine operation: one engine operates in the forward direction with the other engine operating in the reverse direction or still). Moreover, additional jet propulsion tubes (and, accordingly, additional vents and pipelines) can be used directed not parallel to said jet propulsion tubes used for forward motion.

In the embodiment of the steam engine suggested herein in Zvezdny type yachts, two jet propulsion tubes installed under the yacht bottom at both sides of the kill are used, the steam boiler capacity is 20 dm ³ , and a two-pass vent is used as a steam distribution device. Alternatively, a two-pass valve can be used as a steam distribution device. The steam turbine used has not limitations except its physical dimensions. The diameter of the jet propulsion tubes is 0.4 m, and that of the perforated tubes is 0.1 m. The suction port of a feedwater tank is connected to the water suction port of said steam boiler. An electric water desalinating unit can be fitted additionally.

The features and advantages of the suggested ground vehicle engine will be disclosed later herein with the example of an economy car.

The steam engine used in a VAZ-21099 model economy car comprises a 4 dm ³ capacity steam boiler heated with a used lubricant oil fueled burner, the steam discharge port of said steam boiler is fitted with a steam distribution device in the form of a

multipass vent the discharge ports of which are connected to the steam suction ports of the steam turbine casing via 3 brass pipelines. Said steam turbine comprises a 0.15 m diameter rotor the surface of which has 4 teardrop shaped cavities. The steam suction ports are arranged at 65 deg relative to the turbine rotor radial direction. The longitudinal axes of said steam turbine rotor surface teardrop shaped cavities are arranged at the same angle. The steam discharge port is directed almost in the radial direction of said steam turbine rotor. The used steam discharge port is connected to a steam condensing refrigerator via a brass pipeline. The discharge port of said steam condensing refrigerator is connected to said steam boiler via a rubber canvas hose. The water suction port of said steam boiler is additionally connected to the windscreen washer tank via a rubber canvas hose. The used motor oil tank is located under the car hood and is connected to the steam boiler burner via a rubber canvas hose. Any steam overheating means can be installed between the steam discharge port of said steam boiler and said steam distribution vent.

When the car is started, said multipass vent is electrically driven to successively supply the steam to the steam supply ports and further to the rotor surface teardrop shaped cavities. The steam acts to rotate the steam turbine rotor at up to 3000 rpm that will transmit the rotor rotation to the gearbox shaft. As a result, the car motion is initiated.

The use of the steam engine design suggested herein improves the economic efficiency of vehicle operation by simplifying both the design and servicing of the steam engine.