Offering a 5% to 9% saving in fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, Voith Turbos SteamTrac technology is the result of a four-year research programme. A diesel railcar operated in Württemberg equipped with a prototype system was due to begin field trials and a second installation on another railcar is expected to follow by the end of the year. Voith has opted for an updated version of the traditional steam engine, but as a closed cycle system. This uses the hot exhaust gases to heat a transmission medium in a pressurised tank, in effect a form of superheated steam generator, and then expand the steam in a machine to recover the energy, before condensing the medium back to a liquid to complete the cycle. Voith's prototype SteamTrac has been fitted to a diesel engine. The installation has two steam generators in the exhaust line feeding a single 40 kW expander, although the small diesel engine does not generate enough waste heat to deliver the full 40 kW. More energy recovered when there is a lot of high power operation, but less when the engine is idling. In theory it is possible to recover up to 10% of the nominal output. Voith plans future applications, including main line locomotives with bigger expanders.
SteamTrac prototype starts test running
Railway Gazette International ; 167 , 5 ; 55-57
2011
3 Seiten, 3 Bilder
Article (Journal)
English
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