Building an SES Boiler

[Toymaker]

My goal is to build a clone, or close copy, of the SES boiler-burner assembly. I'll present all the data I have on this unit, starting with a few specs:

Steam output: 1000 F at 1000 psi.
Steam flow range: 27 to 550 kg/hr (60 to 1200 lbs/hr)
Fuel flow: 1.8 to 45 kg/hr (4-100 lb/hr)
Burner’s firing rate: 640 kW = 864 hp
Burner Efficiency: 77%

In the late 1960s to mid 1970s, Scientific Energy Systems, or SES, designed, built, and tested a low emissions Rankine cycle automotive steam engine, which of course included a rather compact, powerful monotube boiler-burner. Below is the best photo of the boiler I've been able to find:

In order to fully vaporize the fuel, a small amount of hot exhaust gases are vented into the fresh air intake, raising intake air temperature up to approx 300 F. Finely atomized fuel is sprayed into the hot intake air which is drawn into the blower fan which further mixes the fuel and air. By the time the fuel-air mix reaches the Merker style burner plate, all the fuel is in a gaseous state. Below is a cross-section view:

Below are the stainless steel boiler tubes.

I'm currently working towards making the blower impeller shown below. Both the base and shield will be fabricated using a metal spinning technique,...should be interesting as I've never done this before.
Inlet Diameter - 12.7 cm (5 In)
Discharge Diameter - 22.9 cm (9 In)
Discharge Blade Height - 2.3 cm (0.90 In)

 

[Toymaker]

A little more detail showing airflow entering the impellor, then exiting the impellor and flowing through a vaneless diffuser area before the airflow is redirected upwards through a set of guide-vanes (vanned diffuser) which act to straighten the swirling airflow. Finally the fuel-air mixture is directed through a honeycomb structure which further acts to straighten airflow.

After exiting the honeycomb structure, airflow is forced through a flame holder, consisting of a perforated piece of sheet metal, each hole being 0.84mm (0.033 in), which all together make up approximately 18% of the open area.

 

[jumps4]

Interesting project Toymaker
This should require a Water feed pump with pressure in excess of steam output pressure.
What is your idea for this pump and how will it be powered?
Steve

 

[Toymaker]

Interesting project Toymaker
This should require a Water feed pump with pressure in excess of steam output pressure.
What is your idea for this pump and how will it be powered?
Steve

If I cool the re-circulated feed water down to about 30 C I could use most any off-the-shelf pressure washer. All the commercial pressure washers I've looked at come with a warning to not use hot water. So, if I want to use a "hot well", holding water at 100 C, but not yet boiling, as the feed water, then I need a different pump.

Around August of last year I built my own feed pump for a different project needing only 3 LPM at about 600 psi,... a sort-of-summary post is here: Axial Swash Plate Feed Pump The pump is powered by a 1kW DC motor sold mostly for small electric scooters, and the motor is powered by a PWM motor controller board, which allows rpm control of the pump. Being able to adjust pump rpm, and therefore flow rate and pressure, by simply turning a volume control knob is a big advantage.

There are no plastic parts in my pump so I'm certain it will pump 100 C water. To increase the flow rate I will need to build a different pump that has larger diameter pistons.