Guiding students back to first principles provides a firm foundation on which to learn.  This Miniature Steam Power Plant has been designed by our client Cussons Technology to enable teaching establishments to give students an appreciation of steam and its properties, without the larger capital investment normally required.

Simon was testing the software that he’d written for data acquisition.  This software collects data from the steam turbine so that students may use the data to analyse the thermo dynamic processes which occur.

Providing a visual demonstration of the Rankine Cycle, the burners combust the propane within the copper boiler.  This heats the water to produce steam at pressure.  As Simon opens the throttling valve, it releases the steam from the boiler into the turbine.  The steams potential energy is therefore converted into kinetic energy, as we can see the electrical generator turning.

The generator produces electrical current, as each lamp is switched on, the electrical load is increased, lighting the lamps and demonstrating the conversion process.

The new 2M data acquisition software collects all of this process data (temperatures, steam pressure, generator voltage, current, gas flow, and cooling water flow), displaying and logging it for post test analysis.