Suction gas motor

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The suction gas engine is a motor from the early days of internal combustion engines , which were used from around 1900 as stationary energy sources, mainly in mills . Some of them replaced the steam engines that had been established for half a century , but were soon replaced by diesel engines .

Working principle

In a gas generator, coal is burned in the absence of air. The resulting carbon monoxide (CO), called “air gas”, can already be used as fuel, but is not very suitable for the suction gas engine due to its very high temperature (> 800 ° C) and low calorific value (approx. 0.8 kWh / m³) .

Therefore a mixture of air and water vapor is sucked through the glowing coal. The vapor is split into hydrogen and oxygen at temperatures above 800 ° C and combines with carbon monoxide. The resulting "mixed gas" consists of approx. 25% carbon monoxide and 20% hydrogen. By splitting the water vapor, the gas is cooled to below 500 ° C. The calorific value of the mixed gas is around 1.6 kWh / m³, which is significantly higher than that of air gas.

The gas is processed in a gas cleaning system and then fed to the suction gas engine.

economics

The operation of the suction gas engines was very inexpensive (1902: approx. 0.7 pfennigs per horsepower).

Due to the very high combustion temperature of up to 1500 ° C, the suction gas engines required a high cooling capacity. In the absence of an effective pressurized water cooler, evaporative cooling was often used; the cooling water consumption was around 20 liters per horsepower and hour.

service

The operation of the suction gas engines was much more complex. The cooling had to be ensured permanently; an interruption in cooling could lead to major engine damage. Compared to the steam engines customary at the time, this was a new challenge for the machine operator.

Due to the high temperature and the dry propellant gas, the suction gas engine also had to be lubricated in a laborious manner; there was no self-lubrication as in the later diesel engines.

The suction flow through the gas generator and the gas cleaning system was generated by the suction power of the suction gas motor. To start the engine, the engine therefore had to be cranked until sufficient propellant gas was generated for the engine to run independently. Therefore the engine was also called "Sau gas engine" in a slightly modified form.

The complex operation meant that the suction gas engine could not hold its own against the diesel engine, despite its higher investment and operating costs.

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