2:55 Turing a piston horizontally does not change how atmosphere if pressure affects it... Pressure acts in all directions equally... It only changes the part of the force intrigued by gravity
Sorry Master, gravity is not the big factor. The pressure horizontally or vertically is the same, so that is not why steam was used instead for the return stroke. The power in the earlier version of the engine is the difference between the atmospheric pressure and the reduced pressure of the air and condensed water. It will work no matter which way the piston is oriented, even upside-down. The real reason is that the new configuration has a power stroke in each direction. The condenser is the little hole under the piston. Each side of the piston is alternately connected to the steam source and to the condenser. The piston doesn't rely on atmospheric pressure at all.
I have to add to your theory.....if the steam piston is laying on it's side there is a significantly higher wear caused on the bottom of the piston and the cylinder.....caused by gravity alone. Placing the piston/cylinder in an upright position takes that effect of gravity out of the picture. You are certainly correct on the forces but gravity has an effect by an increased side load on the piston/cylinder......wears less at the top, more on the bottom...bigger the piston/cylinder the more significant the wear.....weight issue
Hmmm... A new type of internal combustion engine? Can I put people in a giant metal shell with a massive turret powered by said engine in order to obliterate my enemies?
Hey it's me, future Brian. Past Brian, you see that little star button on the after effects layers called "continually rasterise". Hit it so your drawings don't pixelate when scaled up.
+GamingEchelon Saying centrifugal force doesn't exist is like saying inertia doesn't exist. Newton's first law - A body at rest will remain at rest, a body in motion will remain in motion, unless acted upon by an external force. If the circular motion of a centrifuge applies force to an object (centripetal force) the inertia will try to keep the object moving in the same direction, and the result will push the object away from the center of the spinning centrifuge (centrifugal force). Newton's third law - Every action has an equal and opposite reaction - Centripetal - Centrifugal. Centrifugal force is what keeps the tether ball flying around the poll at the end of the rope, it keeps you pinned to the wall of the gravitron at the local amusement park and it keeps satellites from falling out of orbit.
In your steam engine animation, the slide valve is positioned 180 degrees from the piston on the crankshaft. it should be positioned 90 degrees from the crank. Also, most steam engines use an eccentric to operate the valve, not a cam (or a crank, as shown in the animation).
@@sachideshmane5088 You NEEDED to point that out because the animation as it is, is lacking any real engineering insight. No need for feeling sorry. He doesn't understand atmospheric pressure as well so he doesn't do engineering any favour by butchering how it works.
He's intelligent but doesn't have social skills enough to explain a thing. Steven Hawkins wouldn't have been retarded as intelligent if it wasnt for his ability to communicate through electronics
the best thing is her unpredictability, one moment she can run soo smoothly her rhythmic noises are soothing then out of no where she can play up. slamming down with such force and you have to run over to the steam valve and shut her down while adjusting the pins and the weights on the piston till you find that sweet spot to return her to the point where she is happy. such temperament, such power and yet no matter how much you get frustrated by her, you love her all the same
Hey everyone. Hope you liked the video. I'm planning to do a Q/A at some point, so if you have any questions please send me a tweet. My username is fiosracht.
Love your videos, it great to see new and talented content creators adding to the storehouse of knowledge. I did however have an issue with something you said in your video. At 2:45 you said "we have turned the piston on its side, so air pressure can no longer force the cylinder back down." This is false. No matter what orientation the cylinder is in air pressure will always exert about 14 PSI on the open end of the cylinder. This mean that in a watt style steam engine air pressure will force the cylinder back "down" even if the cylinder is inverted, or in your example on its side. Air pressure does not care about orientation, and the work is done by virtue of the pressure differential, not gravity.
I'm building a steam engine as a "final exam" in my machining class at my technical college. To pass, it has to run for one minute on 200-300 psi. This gives me a better understanding of how it actually operates (I've only made one of the 23 pieces so far). Thanks for the video. :D
+Real Engineering MY god! what a turn of events! just a suggestion, I think you should collaborate with either VSauce, veritasium, or PBS digital studios channels...
haha I would collaborate if they would have me. I'm a really small TH-camr. They don't even know this channel exists. I really hope I can make a video with Destin on Smarter Every Day about coronary stents.
Two mistakes - the steam coming into the cylinder is at atmospheric pressure, it doesn't push the piston up. Rather it is drawn up by the beam being unbalanced and heavier on the pump side than the engine side. It's the relative vacuum formed by condensing the steam and atmospheric pressure acting on the opposite side of the piston that does the work of moving the piston. That's why it's called Newcomen's Atmospheric Engine. Second one is that atmospheric pressure works in all directions - the cylinder for the reciprocating engine could be in any orientation, but you wouldn't be able to drain the condensed water, so it has to be upright.
So weird; my engineering class was just talking about steam engines. After watching this video, I understand it so much better now. This channel is pretty awesome :)
2:45 - Simply putting the piston on its side DOESN'T remove the effect of atmospheric pressure. It's a good video otherwise though. I knew very little on how steam engines truly worked and this was quite informative.
Many people seem to forget that steam power is still one of the most used ways to generate power. It just uses different types of heat sources and the designs changed drastically. Even nuclear power is just nuclear fission heating up water to power turbines.
ITYM... Nuclear Fission increases the temperature of water changing it from a liquid to a gas (water Vapor/Steam) The steam is first used to SPINS the turbines that SPINS A HUGE MAGNET within a huge coil of Conductive Metal Wire (Cu). Causing electrons to flow within the Copper wire. (Alternating Current). Typically these facilities operate ultra-efficiently...yada-yada-yada, blah-blah-blah....(is similar to what you meant to say, I think? right? Yeah, of course!
Hello Brian, love your videos, and that’s why I make this comment. At 2:44 you say “We have turned this piston’s cylinder on its side, so atmospheric pressure can no longer force the piston back down, so we need to use steam on the return stoke. This requires a control valve, to control when the stream enters and leaves each side of the cylinder”. Atmospheric pressure can push against the piston in ANY direction IF you have an open cylinder. Did you mean to say that gravity can’t force the piston back? And you don’t have to use steam on the return stroke, if you have a flywheel (it does add to the power). A big shift in steam power evolution at time 2:44 I think was going from an atmospheric pressure power stroke, to a steam pressure power stroke. Anyways; most of what you say is correct, and clear, and I appreciate that. I now see that I’m not the first person to call your attention on this. Ok, keep up the good work!
Yeah, I'm embarrassed about that, not sure how I didn't catch it during my iterations of my scripts. In my head I was thinking gravity. Hope that mistake doesn't take away too much from the video.
Ah; you do understand how it works but made a mistake in the script. I do that all the time! It’s so easy to make a mistake and not see it, even after triple checking.
Well thank you :-) I want to make a “how a stirling engine works” movie as well. Maybe we can work together on this one? I could for example fact check your script. Many people don’t understand the stirling engine, think for example that the displacer is a piston.. and such. If feel the stirling engine has a lot of unused potential. My address can be found on my laesieworks website.
Absolutely yeah, always nice to work with someone on videos. I actually built a 3D model in Autocad, based on some designs I found online. I wanted to try and build it with my 3D printer, but never got around to finishing it. The tolerances were difficult to get right. I'll send you an email now
I cannot support you in Patreon for various reasons but I can totaly give you my like, subscribe and follow on your social networks. Nice videos man, I can imagine how much work each video needs to be so good. Keepup the good work mate, you're doing great!
thx for the vid, i checked out a few sites, but they were way too complex. This vid was simple enough for mee to understand, yet complex enough to make sure i knew enough about it. thx
2:50 - I don't think that's accurate, pressure acts in all directions equally and the cylinder orientation should not matter. Condensing the steam will create a vacuum in either orientation. The piston weight itself might make a difference.
The claim that the 1712 Newcomen engine's piston was raised by pressurized steam is completely wrong. The piston was raised by the weight of the pump rod and pump plunger. As it rose, it DREW steam (at essentially atmospheric pressure) from the boiler into the piston chamber. Then cold water was sprayed into the piston, condensing the steam and creating a vacuum. The differential pressure between the atmosphere outside the piston and the vacuum inside the piston forced down the piston, causing the pump to operate. At the bottom of the stroke, the pump rod had been raised back up and it's weight was ready to pull the piston back up. The first pressurized steam engines were not developed until about 1799 by Richard Trevithick, with others also being given credit for working on the idea at about that same time. This was almost a century after Newcomen invented his engine.
If you look at the animation you'll notice a chamber with a hole in the middle. The system is designed to release steam from the chamber you're pushing against, both to release the steam and to decrease pressure making the push from the opposite chamber easier.
SG: I think he confuses gravity with atmospheric pressure. FM: Isn't atmospheric pressure caused by gravity? SG: He says that the piston works against Atmospheric Pressure. In both cases (vertical and horizontal) that is not the case as the inside of the piston does not have a pressure less than Atmospheric Pressure. The water cooling in the first case causes condensing of the vapour reducing the 'gas content' and thus a sort of vacuum is created causing it to fall down faster than normal condensing would do. Also he says that in the case of the horizontal cylinder Atmospheric Pressure does not act anymore because it is tilted. It is the weight of the piston (head) that is removed out of the equation in this case (if we neglect friction).
2:48 The atmosphere wasn't pushing the piston down, it was just pushing it against the decreasing pressure of the hot side. In the horizontal orientation, the steam is acting on both sides of the piston, so the atmosphere doesn't have any force applied to the piston. In other words: the 1712 version of the steam piston should be able to work on its side - the orientation doesn't have an effect on the action of the piston.
Always great videos. I would have likes a bit more details about how the steam circulates, and what are the steam temperature values in the advanced engines, but this introduction is already very nice. Just a minor comment, wouldn't it be better to imagine flywheel as a mechanical capacitor instead of a battery? Capacitors are exactly for this when converting AC to DC current.
2:46 i don’t understand, to me it seems that you made a mistake, you said you put the cylinder on its side and the atmosphere pressure can no longer force the piston back down? It is the pressure difference not the specific placement of the cylinder that cause it to retract. Please explain if you think you are right!
I dont think the gravity plays that big a part. If that were the only force pulling the piston down, i dont think the pump would get pulled up, as iv’e heard the pump part is heavier. So there’s some vacum in there pulling the piston down/atmosphere pressuring the piston down.
Exactly. I wd think that vapor pressure does work on the up stroke and gravity on the down stroke. ..but I still liked the video. I would have made the valve larger with a arrow, I think thats the STAR, Genius of the steam engine.
gravity is literally an illusion. Atmospheric pressure effects what you call "gravity". Every and any equation with gravity, has every and anything to do with "pressure".
Great video. Without meaning to be to critical there are a few small thing I would point out. In the Newcomen engine the steam does no work and is at a very low pressure, about 15psi I think. It was actually the weight of the pump rods that pulled the piston up as much as it was the steam. Hence it makes sense to have a vertical cylinder. The main thing that changed and really sparked of the industrial revolution was James Watt's invention of using high pressure or strong steam as he called it. This was as a result of the advances in engineering technologies, both making it possible to build boilers up to a higher pressure and more complex machinery to tighter tolerances. Watt came up with some very important inventions which made his engine much more efficient such as his parallel motion, separate condenser, crank and flywheel. The difference with the separate condenser as opposed to the atmospheric engine is that it's only reducing the pressure the steam is working against instead of providing the power.
Even if the engine is sideways, atmospheric pressure could still push it. The reason for double action is that the steam (which is at a significantly higher pressure than atmospheric) is acting on every stroke. This difference is similar to the difference in power per size from a 4 stroke engine to a 2 stroke engine. Steam locomotive engines had at least two cylinders, meaning four power strokes per revolution. This is partly for power, but it is necessary for the engine to be self starting. This means that the engine is always in a power stroke.
Nice vid, but it doesn't actually explain how a steam engine works...I mean you quickly describe that most basic one, but then you don't go on the explain anything more modern.
Hmmm..atmospheric pressure shouldn’t rely on whether the engine is horizontal or vertical. You’re actually suggesting gravity is responsible for the reciprocating.
It's a nice video. But I'm sure someone had mentioned before. The gate position that changes where steam enters and exits should have the linkage rotated 90° counterclockwise
I believe there's a small mistake. You said that by putting the cilinder horizontally atmospheric pressure could no longer act on the piston, but it is renowned that pressure acts in every direction, like in water
great video m8! you did get the control valve timing wrong in the animation. you put it at roughly 180 degrees from the piston crank but its supposed to be 90 degrees.
Great video! Accessible but still full of technical goodness. Only criticism is that you introduced the PV diagram really quickly and didn't explain how it worked. The discussion of inefficiencies and history of overcoming them was really interesting.
I have been reading lately about CHP plants, and I have been wondering if it would be possible to convert the heat produced by a CHP unit into electricity using some kind of steam device. Would this be a good or bad use of the heat produced by a CHP unit?
Awesome video. Seems like the cam lift and crankshaft stroke would have to have some kind of ratio. Do you know what that is ? If the crankshaft stroke was too long or too short it seems like the control valve wouldn't be open at the right time.
Nice video, but atmospheric preseure not working when the assembly is mounted horizonatlly? That is inaccurate. Does you body only feel pressure from one direction?
i searched up what a steam engine was and found out about how it was a heat engine which does mechanical work by using steam as a working fluid, it basically uses the force caused by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder and this pushing force can be transformed by connecting a rod and a crank, into a rotational force for work, it was pretty interesting
The engine was first built in 1765. But more than 250 years later most of us don’t know how it works or even understand the concept of it yet we are using all this technology. I’m just projecting
Nice and neat explanation. if school would teach that efficient you could get a high school degree in months instead of years! Well done. "If you can't explain it simply, you understand it not well enough." - Albert Einstein
I don’t know if anyone has pointed this out yet, but the animation of the double acting cylinder is incorrect. The slide valve crank that changes the direction of steam should be offset 90 degrees from the main crank. You can find more animations of what I’m taking about at trumpetb.net/loco/rodsf.html If offset 180 degrees as shown the cylinder will stop halfway through its stroke, but when offset 90 degrees the direction changes right at top dead center and bottom dead center so to speak.
2:55 Turing a piston horizontally does not change how atmosphere if pressure affects it... Pressure acts in all directions equally... It only changes the part of the force intrigued by gravity
Still a great video though
Yeah I noticed that too
Sorry Master, gravity is not the big factor. The pressure horizontally or vertically is the same, so that is not why steam was used instead for the return stroke. The power in the earlier version of the engine is the difference between the atmospheric pressure and the reduced pressure of the air and condensed water. It will work no matter which way the piston is oriented, even upside-down.
The real reason is that the new configuration has a power stroke in each direction. The condenser is the little hole under the piston. Each side of the piston is alternately connected to the steam source and to the condenser. The piston doesn't rely on atmospheric pressure at all.
I was thinking the same
I have to add to your theory.....if the steam piston is laying on it's side there is a significantly higher wear caused on the bottom of the piston and the cylinder.....caused by gravity alone. Placing the piston/cylinder in an upright position takes that effect of gravity out of the picture. You are certainly correct on the forces but gravity has an effect by an increased side load on the piston/cylinder......wears less at the top, more on the bottom...bigger the piston/cylinder the more significant the wear.....weight issue
Modern history is about human kind trying to find different ways to boil water.
and kill each other.
Hmmm... A new type of internal combustion engine?
Can I put people in a giant metal shell with a massive turret powered by said engine in order to obliterate my enemies?
That's not modern history, that is the cause to write history :D To kill each other in better and more efficient ways
Metatron A quote from AlternateHistoryHub or KnowledgeHub.
"Throughout history, humans have the nice tendency to kill each other."
I swear we'll just be using antimatter to boil water if we ever get a significant source of it.
Hey it's me, future Brian. Past Brian, you see that little star button on the after effects layers called "continually rasterise". Hit it so your drawings don't pixelate when scaled up.
Time travel video confirmed? :O
@@yormumahoe6469 Nice username
@@Oussama-q4l Nice profile pick
@@Oussama-q4l Idk what's happening here
@@Oussama-q4l nice nice
As always, brilliant, and to me your best yet. Came into it ignorant; left way more clued up. Looking forward to the centripetal vs centrifugal video.
Make a video
Here you go, centrifugal force doesn't exist.
You make the best videos on youtube
+GamingEchelon Saying centrifugal force doesn't exist is like saying inertia doesn't exist.
Newton's first law - A body at rest will remain at rest, a body in motion will remain in motion, unless acted upon by an external force.
If the circular motion of a centrifuge applies force to an object (centripetal force) the inertia will try to keep the object moving in the same direction, and the result will push the object away from the center of the spinning centrifuge (centrifugal force).
Newton's third law - Every action has an equal and opposite reaction - Centripetal - Centrifugal.
Centrifugal force is what keeps the tether ball flying around the poll at the end of the rope, it keeps you pinned to the wall of the gravitron at the local amusement park and it keeps satellites from falling out of orbit.
+Virgil Pheonix You're think of centripetal force when saying it goes away from the source. Check out Crash Course's videos on physics.
Well, Steam engine also revolutionize gaming industry. lol
Arif Nur Rahman lol true.
that is the wrong steam engine
pieter pretorius r/woooosh
Zocc he right though.
Geez people can't take a joke
In your steam engine animation, the slide valve is positioned 180 degrees from the piston on the crankshaft. it should be positioned 90 degrees from the crank. Also, most steam engines use an eccentric to operate the valve, not a cam (or a crank, as shown in the animation).
I'm sorry if I sound like a negative nancy, but I really wanted to point this out.
@@sachideshmane5088 You NEEDED to point that out because the animation as it is, is lacking any real engineering insight. No need for feeling sorry. He doesn't understand atmospheric pressure as well so he doesn't do engineering any favour by butchering how it works.
@@DreadX10 Calm down
@@robertpaulson2052 When you have nothing to say, it is so much better to say nothing.
@@DreadX10 Then why do you keep commenting?
You talk in cursive.
😂
He's intelligent but doesn't have social skills enough to explain a thing. Steven Hawkins wouldn't have been retarded as intelligent if it wasnt for his ability to communicate through electronics
Teach us your way😂
Ah yes, it seems I have discovered a member of the Print Speakers
😂ya
the best thing is her unpredictability, one moment she can run soo smoothly her rhythmic noises are soothing then out of no where she can play up. slamming down with such force and you have to run over to the steam valve and shut her down while adjusting the pins and the weights on the piston till you find that sweet spot to return her to the point where she is happy. such temperament, such power and yet no matter how much you get frustrated by her, you love her all the same
hahaha that's awesome. Will definitely pay her a visit if I am in the area!
Its just so cool that one of your favorite channels makes a video about things your doing in school it just give me more motivation.
The wheel acts more like an inductor than a battery. Its the perfect analogy for an inductor if you ask me.
Hey everyone. Hope you liked the video. I'm planning to do a Q/A at some point, so if you have any questions please send me a tweet. My username is fiosracht.
Do a video on the Chinese maglev train, I'd love for you to explain how it work. Keep up the great work.
Love your videos, it great to see new and talented content creators adding to the storehouse of knowledge. I did however have an issue with something you said in your video. At 2:45 you said "we have turned the piston on its side, so air pressure can no longer force the cylinder back down." This is false. No matter what orientation the cylinder is in air pressure will always exert about 14 PSI on the open end of the cylinder. This mean that in a watt style steam engine air pressure will force the cylinder back "down" even if the cylinder is inverted, or in your example on its side. Air pressure does not care about orientation, and the work is done by virtue of the pressure differential, not gravity.
Great video!!
+ZzT1T4NzZ I think that would be amazing I'd like to see a video on the evolution of the railways
+83c PRODUCTIONS that would be brilliant. He could also talk about the future of trains such as the hyperloop project
Thank you. We are planning on making a steam powered boat with my family, and this helps a lot. Thank you again.
Made it yet?
almost done?
I'm building a steam engine as a "final exam" in my machining class at my technical college. To pass, it has to run for one minute on 200-300 psi. This gives me a better understanding of how it actually operates (I've only made one of the 23 pieces so far). Thanks for the video. :D
How did it go?
How'd it turn out?
finally a new video!!!
quality - top notch
and thank you and keep the hard work up!
Thanks! Sorry about the delay. I just moved back to Ireland after three years living in Malaysia.
No worries mate... BTW, are you a mechanical engineer?
+Manas Sarpatwar My undergrad was in Biomedical Engineering and my masters was in Aeronautical. I had dreams of being Ironman clearly
+Real Engineering MY god! what a turn of events! just a suggestion, I think you should collaborate with either VSauce, veritasium, or PBS digital studios channels...
haha I would collaborate if they would have me. I'm a really small TH-camr. They don't even know this channel exists.
I really hope I can make a video with Destin on Smarter Every Day about coronary stents.
Two mistakes - the steam coming into the cylinder is at atmospheric pressure, it doesn't push the piston up. Rather it is drawn up by the beam being unbalanced and heavier on the pump side than the engine side. It's the relative vacuum formed by condensing the steam and atmospheric pressure acting on the opposite side of the piston that does the work of moving the piston. That's why it's called Newcomen's Atmospheric Engine. Second one is that atmospheric pressure works in all directions - the cylinder for the reciprocating engine could be in any orientation, but you wouldn't be able to drain the condensed water, so it has to be upright.
I swear, engineers have the ability to take the most mundane solution to make batshit insane things
So weird; my engineering class was just talking about steam engines. After watching this video, I understand it so much better now. This channel is pretty awesome :)
you are in a pretty weird engineering class if you need this video to understand.
ThunfischXXx Ya it was like a super cursory intro class for 2 weeks, kinda for fun
Where it all began. Still one of my favorite of your videos
2:45 - Simply putting the piston on its side DOESN'T remove the effect of atmospheric pressure.
It's a good video otherwise though. I knew very little on how steam engines truly worked and this was quite informative.
Many people seem to forget that steam power is still one of the most used ways to generate power. It just uses different types of heat sources and the designs changed drastically. Even nuclear power is just nuclear fission heating up water to power turbines.
ITYM... Nuclear Fission increases the temperature of water changing it from a liquid to a gas (water Vapor/Steam)
The steam is first used to SPINS the turbines that SPINS A HUGE MAGNET within a huge coil of Conductive Metal Wire (Cu). Causing electrons to flow within the Copper wire. (Alternating Current). Typically these facilities operate ultra-efficiently...yada-yada-yada, blah-blah-blah....(is similar to what you meant to say, I think? right? Yeah, of course!
Hello Brian, love your videos, and that’s why I make this comment. At 2:44 you say
“We have turned this piston’s cylinder on its side, so atmospheric pressure can no longer force the piston back down, so we need to use steam on the return stoke. This requires a control valve, to control when the stream enters and leaves each side of the cylinder”.
Atmospheric pressure can push against the piston in ANY direction IF you have an open cylinder. Did you mean to say that gravity can’t force the piston back? And you don’t have to use steam on the return stroke, if you have a flywheel (it does add to the power). A big shift in steam power evolution at time 2:44 I think was going from an atmospheric pressure power stroke, to a steam pressure power stroke.
Anyways; most of what you say is correct, and clear, and I appreciate that.
I now see that I’m not the first person to call your attention on this.
Ok, keep up the good work!
Yeah, I'm embarrassed about that, not sure how I didn't catch it during my iterations of my scripts. In my head I was thinking gravity. Hope that mistake doesn't take away too much from the video.
I just realised you have pretty interesting content on your channel! I really want to make a video about sterling engines at some point.
Ah; you do understand how it works but made a mistake in the script. I do that all the time! It’s so easy to make a mistake and not see it, even after triple checking.
Well thank you :-) I want to make a “how a stirling engine works” movie as well. Maybe we can work together on this one? I could for example fact check your script. Many people don’t understand the stirling engine, think for example that the displacer is a piston.. and such. If feel the stirling engine has a lot of unused potential. My address can be found on my laesieworks website.
Absolutely yeah, always nice to work with someone on videos. I actually built a 3D model in Autocad, based on some designs I found online. I wanted to try and build it with my 3D printer, but never got around to finishing it. The tolerances were difficult to get right. I'll send you an email now
I cannot support you in Patreon for various reasons but I can totaly give you my like, subscribe and follow on your social networks. Nice videos man, I can imagine how much work each video needs to be so good. Keepup the good work mate, you're doing great!
No worries. Totally understandable. You support plenty by watching!
Oreos o spiros
2:50 The effect of atmospheric pressure is unrelated to the piston's orientation. Air also pushes sideways. This is Pascal's principle.
thx for the vid, i checked out a few sites, but they were way too complex. This vid was simple enough for mee to understand, yet complex enough to make sure i knew enough about it. thx
Your content never ceases to amaze me.
Every good effort must be praised
2:50 - I don't think that's accurate, pressure acts in all directions equally and the cylinder orientation should not matter. Condensing the steam will create a vacuum in either orientation. The piston weight itself might make a difference.
(note in the diagram it does make sense, since the cylinder is sealed off from atmospheric pressure, it's just not because it's sideways)
+foobargorch Yeah you are right. Poorly phrased, my bad
The claim that the 1712 Newcomen engine's piston was raised by pressurized steam is completely wrong. The piston was raised by the weight of the pump rod and pump plunger. As it rose, it DREW steam (at essentially atmospheric pressure) from the boiler into the piston chamber. Then cold water was sprayed into the piston, condensing the steam and creating a vacuum. The differential pressure between the atmosphere outside the piston and the vacuum inside the piston forced down the piston, causing the pump to operate. At the bottom of the stroke, the pump rod had been raised back up and it's weight was ready to pull the piston back up. The first pressurized steam engines were not developed until about 1799 by Richard Trevithick, with others also being given credit for working on the idea at about that same time. This was almost a century after Newcomen invented his engine.
Andrew Russell thanks, I thought that was the case.
Still waiting on that centripetal and centrifugal video 6 years later...
Great effort and a wonderful understanding
Holy shit why did I sleep on this video it's exactly what I needed
Marvelous platform to learn what actual Engineering is..
thanks for the vid this also taugh me why we have fly wheels as well as how the steam engine works
Question: so where does the steam go after passing through the cylinder?
If you look at the animation you'll notice a chamber with a hole in the middle. The system is designed to release steam from the chamber you're pushing against, both to release the steam and to decrease pressure making the push from the opposite chamber easier.
@@piroman85 this shit is crazy
Out into the air
Have you ever seen a steam locomotive? Notice the funnel? That’s where.
SG: I think he confuses gravity with atmospheric pressure.
FM: Isn't atmospheric pressure caused by gravity?
SG: He says that the piston works against Atmospheric Pressure. In both cases (vertical and horizontal) that is not the case as the inside of the piston does not have a pressure less than Atmospheric Pressure. The water cooling in the first case causes condensing of the vapour reducing the 'gas content' and thus a sort of vacuum is created causing it to fall down faster than normal condensing would do.
Also he says that in the case of the horizontal cylinder Atmospheric Pressure does not act anymore because it is tilted. It is the weight of the piston (head) that is removed out of the equation in this case (if we neglect friction).
2:48 The atmosphere wasn't pushing the piston down, it was just pushing it against the decreasing pressure of the hot side. In the horizontal orientation, the steam is acting on both sides of the piston, so the atmosphere doesn't have any force applied to the piston. In other words: the 1712 version of the steam piston should be able to work on its side - the orientation doesn't have an effect on the action of the piston.
Wow watching an older video of yours really shows how much your oratory skills increased through the years.
Clearly understood and brilliant.
Always great videos. I would have likes a bit more details about how the steam circulates, and what are the steam temperature values in the advanced engines, but this introduction is already very nice. Just a minor comment, wouldn't it be better to imagine flywheel as a mechanical capacitor instead of a battery? Capacitors are exactly for this when converting AC to DC current.
Little technical mistakes in the final animation drive me crazy as a perfectionist
I should sleep but I don't want to stop learning more and more... wish I could learn while sleeping
Thanks! This video help me with my study about termical machines. I'm studing it in my course.
Cool to see how may different steam engines are out there. Wonder how many times they fail before they got one to work.
This channel is a gem for engineers :)
Great video with a clear explanation!
This video was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you very much for taking the time to produce this.
2:46 i don’t understand, to me it seems that you made a mistake, you said you put the cylinder on its side and the atmosphere pressure can no longer force the piston back down? It is the pressure difference not the specific placement of the cylinder that cause it to retract. Please explain if you think you are right!
I feel like this isnt talked about enough, but the background music choice is always great.
What you said about atmospheric pressure is wrong. You are confusing gravity with atmospheric pressure.
I dont think the gravity plays that big a part. If that were the only force pulling the piston down, i dont think the pump would get pulled up, as iv’e heard the pump part is heavier. So there’s some vacum in there pulling the piston down/atmosphere pressuring the piston down.
Exactly.
I wd think that vapor pressure does work on the up stroke and gravity on the down stroke.
..but I still liked the video.
I would have made the valve larger with a arrow, I think thats the STAR, Genius of the steam engine.
gravity is literally an illusion. Atmospheric pressure effects what you call "gravity". Every and any equation with gravity, has every and anything to do with "pressure".
love your work man, looking forward to the next one!
who in the world would dislike these great videos?
I cannot understand a word. You’ve come a long way.
Incredible video the control valve for the return stroke how you animated it helped me understand. Thank you. Subed
Great video. Without meaning to be to critical there are a few small thing I would point out. In the Newcomen engine the steam does no work and is at a very low pressure, about 15psi I think. It was actually the weight of the pump rods that pulled the piston up as much as it was the steam. Hence it makes sense to have a vertical cylinder.
The main thing that changed and really sparked of the industrial revolution was James Watt's invention of using high pressure or strong steam as he called it. This was as a result of the advances in engineering technologies, both making it possible to build boilers up to a higher pressure and more complex machinery to tighter tolerances. Watt came up with some very important inventions which made his engine much more efficient such as his parallel motion, separate condenser, crank and flywheel. The difference with the separate condenser as opposed to the atmospheric engine is that it's only reducing the pressure the steam is working against instead of providing the power.
Even if the engine is sideways, atmospheric pressure could still push it. The reason for double action is that the steam (which is at a significantly higher pressure than atmospheric) is acting on every stroke. This difference is similar to the difference in power per size from a 4 stroke engine to a 2 stroke engine. Steam locomotive engines had at least two cylinders, meaning four power strokes per revolution. This is partly for power, but it is necessary for the engine to be self starting. This means that the engine is always in a power stroke.
thank you for this educational video helped a lot with one of my school presentations
Nice vid, but it doesn't actually explain how a steam engine works...I mean you quickly describe that most basic one, but then you don't go on the explain anything more modern.
now I understand why creativity can be sometimes stronger than intelligence
I can't believe the amount of people that think centrifugal force is fake.
Are these the same people who believe gravity is fake?
Virgil Pheonix likely
Whaat? Who thinks it's fake? I've seen plenty of nonsense theories, but I missed this...
Cool Name just when he popped up a bunch of comments from people who say it doesn't exist
Centrifugal force is sometimes called "the fictitious force" or "pseudo force". Some people seem to think this means that it doesn't exist.
Great video! Thanks for the education.
Hmmm..atmospheric pressure shouldn’t rely on whether the engine is horizontal or vertical. You’re actually suggesting gravity is responsible for the reciprocating.
It's a nice video. But I'm sure someone had mentioned before. The gate position that changes where steam enters and exits should have the linkage rotated 90° counterclockwise
great video. i had no idea what a flywheel was for
Now you know!
The most interesting part in this whole video is actually the flywheel. Never knew stuff like that. Cool
keeping the video short but not omitting necessary details is perfect..
I believe there's a small mistake. You said that by putting the cilinder horizontally atmospheric pressure could no longer act on the piston, but it is renowned that pressure acts in every direction, like in water
This engine is making a comeback someway.
great video m8!
you did get the control valve timing wrong in the animation. you put it at roughly 180 degrees from the piston crank but its supposed to be 90 degrees.
Please make more videos describing industrial revolution technology like this.
*i like how he said "i did it again" like it was an accident*
Over the span of human existence, the evolution of societies has been shaped by both conflict and cooperation.
Please discuss Stirling engines someday.
I'm planning a steampunk costume for Halloween, and i want my gadgets to be (theoretically) functional, so hopefully this'll help
Where's the vid on the centrifugal governor? Can't find it on your channel.
Great video! Accessible but still full of technical goodness. Only criticism is that you introduced the PV diagram really quickly and didn't explain how it worked. The discussion of inefficiencies and history of overcoming them was really interesting.
great details thanks Brian
I have been reading lately about CHP plants, and I have been wondering if it would be possible to convert the heat produced by a CHP unit into electricity using some kind of steam device. Would this be a good or bad use of the heat produced by a CHP unit?
Nice video Sir
2:49 We've turned it on its side, so atmospheric pressure can no longer force the piston back down? Interesting idea!
Awesome video. Seems like the cam lift and crankshaft stroke would have to have some kind of ratio. Do you know what that is ?
If the crankshaft stroke was too long or too short it seems like the control valve wouldn't be open at the right time.
I would love an expanded and updated version of this video. Or even one dedicated to steam and all it's many uses. You could make it Nebula only...
thank you so much for this. Really helped
Nice video, but atmospheric preseure not working when the assembly is mounted horizonatlly? That is inaccurate. Does you body only feel pressure from one direction?
Was a mess up in the script. Apologies!
James Watt would have a word with you. :)
lay it on its side so that gravity doesn't pull the piston down...
I thought that was what 'Real Engineering' was trying to say (forgot his name xD)
Wow finally ! I always tald myself the centrifugal force doesn't exist, despite never being told so, and you're confirming my thoughts.
i searched up what a steam engine was and found out about how it was a heat engine which does mechanical work by using steam as a working fluid, it basically uses the force caused by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder and this pushing force can be transformed by connecting a rod and a crank, into a rotational force for work, it was pretty interesting
The engine was first built in 1765.
But more than 250 years later most of us don’t know how it works or even understand the concept of it yet we are using all this technology. I’m just projecting
I finally know how the cylinder lets in steam at exactly the right time.
Is it possible to build one of these strictly on stuff in the wild? (Wood, twigs, clay etc)
extremely well explained
ingenious, i wish there were some simulator i could use to make my own steam contraptions
How do you do your animations? Great video and explanation!
Nice and neat explanation. if school would teach that efficient you could get a high school degree in months instead of years! Well done.
"If you can't explain it simply, you understand it not well enough." - Albert Einstein
Could we see something about the evolution of the railways from the 1800sto the 2000s it would be quite interesting
Awesome vid
What I was looking for
VERY good video sir
Learning how to power my mechanical horses in my steampunk-western fantasy novel
Good stuff and keep it coming if you can.
Great explanation and graphics Thanks
I don’t know if anyone has pointed this out yet, but the animation of the double acting cylinder is incorrect. The slide valve crank that changes the direction of steam should be offset 90 degrees from the main crank. You can find more animations of what I’m taking about at
trumpetb.net/loco/rodsf.html
If offset 180 degrees as shown the cylinder will stop halfway through its stroke, but when offset 90 degrees the direction changes right at top dead center and bottom dead center so to speak.
Little note at 1:28 : You cant calculate the work from the PV diagram since this is not an ideal gas.