Steam collecting box
The steam collecting box is part of the superheater in steam locomotives that run on superheated steam. It is used to bundle the superheater tubes. Steam collecting boxes have a wet steam and a superheated steam part.
The steam collecting box is located at the highest point of the steam locomotive boiler in the smoke chamber . The wet steam generated in the boiler reaches the U-shaped superheater pipes via the steam dome and the steam collecting box and is superheated to around 300 ° C. At the outlet of the superheater pipes is the superheated steam part of the steam collecting box, the superheated steam is bundled here and reaches the cylinder via the steam inlet pipes. An open flange to the inlet pipes can be clearly seen in the photo.
Differences could be seen in the design of the steam collecting box in the design of the steam locomotive with a superheated steam or a wet steam regulator. In the case of a wet steam regulator, this was located in the steam dome; in the case of superheated steam regulators, this was part of the steam collecting box. The advantage of the superheated steam regulator was that steam was immediately available when the regulator was opened. There was a reduced risk of water being torn over by the constantly available steam in the wet steam chamber for cooling and the presence of superheated steam for the auxiliary machines when the locomotive was stopped.
In practice, the choice of the multi-valve superheated steam controller showed that it was relatively expensive and sensitive due to its many parts. While the superheated steam regulators were removed again on some new locomotives ( DB class 23 ) or not used at all ( Deutsche Reichsbahn (1945–1993) ), conventional superheated steam regulators were only used in the 66 and 10 series in conjunction with an auxiliary shut-off valve on the steam dome. Due to the change in traction, the development had come too late.
literature
- Manfred Weisbrod, Hans Müller, Wolfgang Petznick: Steam locomotive archive, series 01–99 , Transpress Verlag , Berlin 1976
- Karl-Ernst Maedel , Alfred B. Gottwaldt : German steam locomotives , Transpress Verlag, Berlin, ISBN 3-344-70912-7