Advanced steam technology (sometimes known
as modern steam) reflects an approach to the
technical development of the steam engine
intended for a wider variety of applications
than has recently been the case.
Particular attention has been given to endemic
problems that led to the demise of steam power
in small- to medium-scale commercial applications:
excessive pollution, maintenance costs, labour-intensive
operation, low power/weight ratio, and low
overall thermal efficiency; where steam power
has generally now been superseded by the internal
combustion engine or by electrical power drawn
from an electrical grid.
The only steam installations that are in widespread
use are the highly efficient thermal power
plants used for generating electricity on
a large scale.
In contrast, the proposed steam engines may
be for stationary, road, rail or marine use.
== Improving steam traction ==
Although most references to "Modern Steam"
apply to developments since the 1970s, certain
aspects of advanced steam technology can be
discerned throughout the 20th century, notably
automatic boiler control along with rapid
startup.
=== Abner Doble ===
In 1922 Abner Doble developed an electro-mechanical
system that reacted simultaneously to steam
temperature and pressure, starting and stopping
the feed pumps whilst igniting and cutting
out the burner according to boiler pressure.
The contraflow monotube boiler had a working
pressure of 750 psi (5.17 MPa) to 1,200 psi
(8.27 MPa) but contained so little water in
circulation as to present no risk of explosion.
This type of boiler was continuously developed
in the US, Britain and Germany throughout
the 1930s and into the 1950s for use in cars,
buses, trucks, railcars, shunting locomotives
(US; switchers), a speedboat and in 1933,
a converted Travel Air 2000 biplane.
=== Sentinel ===
In the UK, Sentinel Waggon Works developed
a vertical water-tube boiler running at 275
psi (1.90 MPa) which was used in road vehicles,
shunting locomotives and railcars.
Steam could be raised much more quickly than
with a conventional locomotive boiler.
=== Holcroft and Anderson ===
Trials of the Anderson condensing system on
the Southern Railway (Great Britain) took
place between 1930 and 1935.
Condensing apparatus has not been widely used
on steam locomotives, because of the additional
complexity and weight, but it offers four
potential advantages:
Improved thermal efficiency
Reduced water consumption
Reduced boiler maintenance for limescale removal
Reduced noiseThe Anderson condensing system
uses a process known as mechanical vapor recompression.
It was devised by a Glasgow marine engineer,
Harry Percival Harvey Anderson.
The theory was that, by removing around 600
of the 970 British thermal units present in
each pound of steam (1400 of the 2260 kilojoules
in each kilogram), it would be possible to
return the exhaust steam to the boiler by
a pump which would consume only 1-2% of the
engine's power output.
Between 1925 and 1927 Anderson, and another
Glasgow engineer John McCullum (some sources
give McCallum), conducted experiments on a
stationary steam plant with encouraging results.
A company, Steam Heat Conservation (SHC),
was formed and a demonstration of Anderson's
system was arranged at Surbiton Electricity
Generating Station.
SHC was interested in applying the system
to a railway locomotive and contacted Richard
Maunsell of the Southern Railway.
Maunsell requested that a controlled test
be carried out at Surbiton and this was done
about 1929.
Maunsell's technical assistant, Harold Holcroft,
was present and a fuel saving of 29% was recorded,
compared to conventional atmospheric working.
The Southern Railway converted SECR N class
locomotive number A816 (later 1816 and 31816)
to the Anderson system in 1930.
The locomotive underwent trials and initial
results were encouraging.
After an uphill trial from Eastleigh to Litchfield
Summit, Holcroft is reported as saying:
"In the ordinary way this would have created
much noise and clouds of steam, but with the
condensing set in action it was all absorbed
with the ease with which snow would melt in
a furnace!
The engine was as silent as an electric locomotive
and the only faint noises were due to slight
pounding of the rods and a small blow at a
piston gland.
This had to be experienced to be believed;
but for the regulator being wide open and
the reverser well over, one would have imagined
that the second engine (an LSWR T14 class
that had been provided as a back-up) was propelling
the first".
The trials continued until 1934 but various
problems arose and the project went no further.
The locomotive was converted back to standard
form in 1935.
=== Andre Chapelon ===
The work of French mechanical engineer Andre
Chapelon in applying scientific analysis and
a strive for thermal efficiency was an early
example of advanced steam technology.
Chapelon's protégé Livio Dante Porta continued
Chapelon's work.
=== Livio Dante Porta ===
Postwar in the late 1940s and 1950s some designers
worked on modernising steam locomotives.
The Argentinian engineer Livio Dante Porta
in the development of Stephensonian railway
locomotives incorporating advanced steam technology
was a precursor of the 'Modern Steam' movement
from 1948.
Where possible, Porta much preferred to design
new locomotives, but more often in practice
he was forced to radically update old ones
to incorporate the new technology.
=== Bulleid and Riddles ===
In Britain the SR Leader class of c. 1949
by Oliver Bulleid and the British Rail ‘Standard’
class steam locomotives of the 1950s by Robert
Riddles, particularly the BR Standard Class
9F, were used to trial new steam locomotive
design features, including the Franco-Crosti
boiler.
On moving to Ireland, Bulleid also designed
CIÉ No.
CC1 which had many novel features.
== Achieving the ends ==
The Sir Biscoe Tritton Lecture, given by Roger
Waller, of the DLM company to the Institute
of Mechanical Engineers in 2003 gives an idea
of how problems in steam power are being addressed.
Waller refers mainly to some rack and pinion
mountain railway locomotives that were newly
built from 1992-98.
They were developed for three companies in
Switzerland and Austria, and continued to
work on two of these lines as of 2008.
The new steam locomotives burn the same grade
of light oil as their diesel counterparts,
and all demonstrate the same advantages of
ready availability and reduced labour cost;
at the same time they have been shown to greatly
reduce air and ground pollution.
Their economic superiority has meant that
they have largely replaced the diesel locomotives
and railcars previously operating the line;
additionally, steam locomotives are a tourist
attraction.
A parallel line of development was the return
to steam power of the old Lake Geneva paddle
steamer Montreux that had been refitted with
a diesel-electric engine in the 1960s.
Economic aims similar to those achieved with
the rack locomotives were pursued through
automatic control of the light-oil-fired boiler
and remote control of the engine from the
bridge, enabling the steamship to be operated
by a crew of the same size as a motor ship.
=== Checklist ===
All this can be summed up as follows on the
basis of the DLM company prospectus:Modern
Steam stands for a new economic and ecologic
steam technology, providing the following
advantages:
One-person operation for steam locomotives
Automatic boiler and remote-controlled steam
engine for ships
Light-oil firing with clean combustion
Low cost of ownership providing good return
on investment
High thermal efficiency of engine and boiler
High-level insulation of boiler, steam engine
and piping
Modular concept and exchangeable parts
Up-to-date bearing technology reducing maintenance
and protecting the environment- To which may
be added:
Ready availability for use
Can also be used as part of a cogeneration
system with a petrol, diesel or gas turbine
engine
Lends itself well to combined heat and power
(CHP) operation
Can exploit geothermal sources of steam
=== 
Carbon neutrality ===
A power unit based on advanced steam technology
burning fossil fuel will inevitably emit carbon
dioxide, a long-lasting greenhouse gas.
However, significant reductions, compared
to other combustion technologies, of other
pollutants such as CO and NOx are achievable
by steam technology, which does not involve
explosive combustion, without the need for
add-ons such as filters etc. or special preparation
of fuel.
If renewable fuel such as wood or other biofuel
is used then the system could be carbon neutral.
The use of biofuel remains controversial;
however, liquid biofuels are easier to manufacture
for steam plant than for diesels as they do
not demand the stringent fuel standards required
to protect diesel injectors.
It has been proposed that, given sufficient
solar energy, silicon compounds — or even
regular biomass processed into solid fuel
through torrefaction — might be refined
for use as a coal replacement for this type
of engine.
=== Advantages of advanced steam technology
===
In principle, combustion and power delivery
of steam plant can be considered as separate
stages.
While high overall thermal efficiency may
be difficult to achieve, largely due to the
extra stage of generating a working fluid
between combustion and power delivery attributable
mainly to leakages and heat losses, the separation
of the processes allows specific problems
to be addressed at each stage without revising
the whole system every time.
For instance, the boiler or steam generator
can be adapted to use any heat source, whether
obtained from solid, liquid or gaseous fuel,
and can use waste heat.
Whatever the choice, it will have no direct
effect on the design of the engine unit, as
that only ever has to deal with steam.
== Early twenty-first century ==
=== 
Small-scale stationary plant ===
This project mainly includes combined electrical
generation and heating systems for private
homes and small villages burning wood or bamboo
chips.
This is intended to replace 2-stroke donkey
engines and small diesel power plants.
Drastic reduction in noise level is one immediate
benefit of a steam-powered small plant.
Ted Pritchard, of Melbourne, Australia, was
intensively developing this type of unit from
2002 until his death in 2007.
The company Pritchard Power (now Uniflow Power)
stated in 2010 that they continue to develop
the stationary S5000, and that a prototype
had been built and was being tested, and designs
were being refined for market ready products.Until
2006 a German company called Enginion was
actively developing a Steamcell, a micro CHP
unit about the size of a PC tower for domestic
use.
It seems that by 2008 it had merged with Berlin
company AMOVIS.Since 2012, a French company,
EXOES, is selling to industrial firms a Rankine
Cycle, patented, engine, which is designed
to work with many fuels such as concentrated
solar power, biomass, or fossil.
The system, called "SHAPE" for Sustainable
Heat And Power Engine, converts the heat into
electricity.
The SHAPE engine is suitable for embedded,
and stationary, applications.
A SHAPE engine has been integrated into a
biomass boiler, and into a Concentrated solar
power system.
The company is planning to work with automobile
manufactures, long-haul truck manufactures,
and railway corporations.A similar unit is
marketed by Powertherm, a subsidiary of Spilling
(see below).
A company in India manufactures steam powered
generators in a range of sizes from 4 hp to
50 hp.
They also offer a number of different mills
that can be powered by their engines.
In matter of technology, notice that the Quasiturbine
is a uniflow rotary steam engine where steam
intakes in hot areas, while exhausting in
cold areas.
=== Small ship auxiliaries and large portable
generators ===
Once again quiet operation is the immediate
benefit sought in this field, a potential
recognised by Ted Pritchard, but nothing of
note has yet appeared.
=== Small fixed stationary plant ===
The Spilling company produces a variety of
small fixed stationary plant adapted to biomass
combustion or power derived from waste heat
or pressure recovery.The Finnish company Steammotor
Finland has developed a small rotary steam
engine that runs with 800 kW steam generator.
The engines are planned to produce electricity
in wood chip fired power plants.
According to the company, the steam engine
named Quadrum generates 27% efficiency and
runs with 180 °C steam at 8 bar pressure,
while a corresponding steam turbine produces
just 15% efficiency, requires steam temperature
of 240 °C and pressure of 40 bar.
The high efficiency comes from a patented
crank mechanism, that gives a smooth, pulseless
torque.
The company believes that by further developing
the construction there is potential to reach
as high efficiency as 30–35 %.
=== Automotive uses ===
During the first 1970s oil crisis, a number
of investigations into steam technology were
initiated by large automobile corporations
although as the crisis died down, impetus
was soon lost.
Australian engineer Ted Pritchard's main field
of research from the late 1950s until the
1970s was the building of several efficient
steam power units working on the uniflow system
adapted to a small truck and two cars.
One of the cars was achieving the lowest emissions
figures of that time.
IAV, a Berlin-based R&D company that later
developed the Steamcell, during the 1990s
was working on the single-cylinder ZEE (Zero
Emissions Engine), followed by the compact
3-cylinder EZEE (Equal-to-Zero-Emissions-Engine)
designed to fit in the engine compartment
of a Škoda Fabia small family saloon.
All these engines made heavy use of flameless
ceramic heat cells both for the steam generator
and at strategic boost points where steam
was injected into the cylinder(s).
Cyclone Power Technologies of Pompano Beach,
Florida patented the Cyclone Mark V Engine,
a compact, six cylinder radial steam engine
with integrated steam generator and condenser.
The engine is predicted to produce 100 hp
at 3600 rpm, although as of January 2, 2015,
Cyclone Power Technologies has yet to deliver
a working engine to a customer or provide
a public demonstration of their engine working.
The engine has been promoted for use in racing
cars to set a land speed record for steam
powered vehicles and an all-fuel engine for
powering forklift trucks.
=== Rail use ===
No. 52 8055, a rebuild of an existing locomotive
(East Germany, 1960).
The 5AT project, a proposal for an entirely
new locomotive (Britain, 2000s).
The ACE 3000 project, proposed by locomotive
enthusiast Ross Rowland during the 1970s oil
crisis.
The locomotive would look like a diesel, and
was designed to compete with current diesel
locomotives by using coal, much cheaper than
oil at the time.
The ACE 3000 would feature many new technologies,
such as automatic firing and water-level control.
The locomotive would be able to be connected
to a diesel unit and run in unison with it,
so that it would not be necessary to hook
up two identical locomotives.
The ACE 3000 was one of the most publicised
attempts at modern steam, but the project
ultimately failed due to lack of funds.
The CSR Project 130, intends to develop a
modern steam locomotive (based on an existing
ATSF 3460 class locomotive) capable of higher-speed
passenger transport at more than 100 mph,
and tested up to 130 mph (hence the name Project
130).
It is proposed to be carbon-neutral, as it
will run on torrefied biomass as solid fuel
(unlike all other contemporary designs, which
mandate liquid fuel).
The development is a joint effort between
University of Minnesota's Institute on the
Environment (IonE) and Sustainable Rail International,
a non-profit employing railway experts and
steam engineers established for the purpose.
==== Novel versus conventional layout ====
Both 52 8055 and the proposed 5AT are of conventional
layout, with the cab at the back, while the
ACE 3000 had the cab located at the front.
Other approaches are possible, especially
with liquid fuel firing.
For example:
Cab forward type.
This is a well-tried design with the potential
for a large power output and would provide
the driver good visibility.
Being single-ended it would have to be turned
on a turntable, or a triangular junction.
Example: Southern Pacific 4294.
Garratt type.
Another well-tried design with large power
potential.
Example: South Australian Railways 400 class.
A future design could include shorter water
tanks, and a cab at each end, to give the
driver a good view in either direction.
A design mounted on power bogies with compact
water-tube boiler similar to Sentinel designs
of the 1930s.
Example: Sentinel-Cammell locomotive (right).
==== Fireless locomotives ====
Another proposal for advanced steam technology
is to revive the fireless locomotive, which
runs on stored steam independently pre-generated.
An example is the Solar Steam Train project
in Sacramento, California.
== See also ==
Combined gas and steam, a combined cycle in
which otherwise wasted heated from a gas turbine
is used to generate steam to drive a steam
turbine
List of steam technology patents
Steam car
Steam locomotives of the 21st century
Steam motor
Uniflow steam engine
