INDIAN INSTITUTE OF SPACE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

THIRUVANTAPURAM

A STUDY REPORT ON:Walschaerts steam valve gear

Done by :Kundrapu Raghava (SC10B038).

In the guidance of :Prof. Kurian Isaac sir.

ABSTRACT

Walschaerts valve gear was the most popular valve gear which was extensively used in steam locomotives from the late 19th century until the end of the steam era. The Walschaerts valve gear enables the engineer to operate the steam engine in a continuous range of settings from maximum economy to maximum power.

While initially unpopular, the Walschaerts gear was probably applied to more of the twentieth century's steam locomotives than any other, replacing the former favorite gear, the Stephenson valve gear as locomotives got larger. This is one of the basic model design of the valve gears which we are using now. In this we made an analysis on kinematic view of the mechanism. Well see how it was designed and its working principles and its mechanism.

INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS VALVE GEAR ?
Valve gear on a steam locomotive is used to control the admission of steam into the cylinders of a locomotive. Specifically, the valve gear controls the timing or duration of time boiler pressure steam is allowed into the cylinders. The function of the locomotive valve gear is to regulate the movement of the valves so that steam is admitted and exhausted from the cylinders in relation to the position of the pistons. It also allows the driver to alter the length of steam admission, known as cut-off, and to reverse the locomotive.

Walschaerts valve gear

In 1844, Egide Walschaerts invented a valve gear that by 1848, appeared very much as it does today. The primary reason for a more universal adoption of Walschaerts gear was its general suitability for mounting outside the frames, convenient for maintenance and permitting more strongly braced frames. It's main advantage was that it was located completely outside the wheels and therefore was much easier to maintain than Stephenson valve gear.

Figure 1 :- Walschaerts valve gear of a steam locomotive.

1. Eccentric Crank; 2. Eccentric Rod; 3. Reach Rod; 4. Lifting Link 5. Lifting Arm; 6. Reverse Arm & Shaft; 7. Link (Expansion Link); 8.Radius Bar; 9. Crosshead Arm; 10.Valve Stem Guide; 11. Union Link 12. Combination Lever; 13. Valve Stem; 14. Valve Spindle.

Typical analysis of links and joints

From the above kinematic skeleton diagram, 1. Total no. of links (n) = 15 2. Total no. of joints with DOF as 1 (j2) =20 3. Total no. of joints with DOF as 2 (j1) =1 Hence, Degrees of freedom = 3(n-1)-2(j2)-(j1) = 3*(15-1)-2*20-1 =1

LETS SEE HOW IT WORKS?

The motion is taken primarily from the locomotive driving wheel.

At the end of the crankpin, a return crank is fitted on the main driver. The other end of this return crank is at a point just over 90 degrees ahead of the crankpin around the driving axle and closer to the wheel's center.

The return crank drives the return crank arm, which in turn is fastened to the lower end of the expansion link - this is a curved piece (the concave side facing forward) of metal with a slot in it, pivoted at the center so it can rotate.

The return crank arm is fastened to the bottom end of it, and as the driving wheel rotates it therefore rocks the expansion link back and forth around its center.

 In the slot of the expansion link there fits a slider called die block. This is moved up and down in the expansion link by the reversing shaft i.e., in reverse direction.

If the die block is in the center of the expansion link, it does not move in a longitudinal sense and only rotates as the expansion link is rotated back and forth.

Figure-3 1. Valve spindle; 2.Combination lever; 3.Radius rod; 4. Expansion link; 5. Crosshead; 6. Eccentric rod; 7.Return crank; 8.Crank axle; 9. Reversing rod; 10.Connecting rod.

 The further it is moved from that central position the more it moves; if moved downward, it moves in the same sense as the return crank arm, while if moved upward it moves in the reverse sense.

The die block is attached to a rod named the radius rod, which provides the large part of the valve motion to the piston or slide valves. The expansion link and die block are used to control the direction of movement of the locomotive, and the amount of valve travel (as equivalent as the gearbox in an automobile).

In this Walschaerts gear, to make it a serviceable valve gear for a locomotive it was discovered that by adding a small proportion of the piston's movement to the valve motion produced better valve events. Thus, instead of the radius rod being connected directly to the valve spindle, it is connected to a more-or-less vertical rod called the combination lever. The radius rod is connected to the top of this lever; the valve spindle is connected to a position only slightly down the lever,

since the radius rod's motion is the large proportion of the desired valve motion.

The other end of the combination lever is connected to the crosshead at the end of the piston rod by a horizontal rod named the union link - the purpose of this was simply that the crosshead was not normally close to the location of the combination lever but rather substantially further back. The combination lever, thus, combines the movements of the radius rod and the crosshead in approximately a 10:1 proportion, adding only a small amount of the crosshead's motion to the valve motion. The movement of the expansion link is obtained from an eccentric rod attached via the crank axle. Adjustment to the length of valve travel is made by raising or lowering the position of the radius rod within the expansion link. This is achieved by operation of the reversing rod from in the cab. The length of travel of the radius rod, and therefore of the valve spindle, depends on the rod's position within the expansion link.

 Maximum valve travel giving maximum steam admission is obtained when the radius rod is positioned furthest from the centre of the expansion link. Moving the radius rod from one half of the expansion link to the other, reverses the movement of the locomotive by admitting steam into what otherwise would have been the exhausting side of the piston's cycle.

Working principle to obtain maximum power & economical :-

Any valve gear has to satisfy the following two conditions:

1. At the instant when the space on one side of the piston starts to expand, i.e. at the very start of a stroke, the valve opens to admit steam from the boiler into that space. The pressure of this steam provides the driving force.

2. At the instant when the space on one side of the piston starts to contract, the valve starts to release steam from that space to the atmosphere, so as not to impede the movement of the piston.

 Steam is admitted to the expanding space for only part of the stroke; at an instant of time, the intake is cut off. Since the exhaust is also shut, during the rest of the stroke the steam that has entered the cylinder expands in isolation, thereby its pressure decreases.

For maximum economy, the cutoff point should be carefully set so that, when the exhaust valve opens, the steam is down to exactly atmospheric pressure. Thus, all the mechanical energy available from the steam (in the absence of a condenser) is used.

The Walschaerts valve gear enables to change the cutoff point without changing the points at which intake starts and at which exhaust starts.

Economy also requires that the throttle is wide open, so that no energy is wasted pushing steam through a constriction, and that the boiler pressure is at the maximum safe level to maximize thermal efficiency.

 For economy, a steam engine is used of a size such that the most economical settings yield the right amount of power most of the time, such as when a train is running at steady speed on level track.

When greater power is necessary, e.g. when gaining speed when pulling out of a station and when ascending a gradient, the Walschaerts valve gear enables to set the cutoff point near the end of the stroke, so that the full pressure of the boiler is exerted on the piston for almost the entire stroke. With such a setting, when the exhaust opens, the steam in the cylinder is near full boiler pressure.

The pressure in the steam at that moment serves no useful purpose.It is wasted driving a sudden pulse of pressure into the atmosphere, but this waste is compensated by maximized economy at other times.

1. The motion must be adjusted with the crank on the dead centers by lengthening or shortening the eccentric rod until the link takes such a position as to impart no motion to the valve when the link block is moved from its extreme forward to its extreme backward position. Before these changes in the eccentric rod are resorted to, the length of the valve stem should be examined, as it may be of advantage to plane off or line under the foot of the link support which might correct the length of both rods, or at least only one of these would need to be changed. 2. The difference between the two positions of the valve on the forward and back centers is the lead and lap doubled and it cannot be changed except by changing the leverage relations of the combination lever. 3. A given lead determines the lap or a given lap determines the lead, and it must be divided for both ends as desired by lengthening or shortening the valve spindle.

4. Within certain limits, this adjustment may be made by shortening or lengthening the radius bar but it is desirable to keep the length of this bar equal to the radius of the link in order to meet the requirements of the first condition. 5. The lead may be increased by reducing the lap, and the cutoff point will then be slightly advanced. Increasing the lap introduces the opposite effect on the cutoff. With good judgment, these qualities may be varied to offset other irregularities inherent in transforming rotary into lineal motion. 6. Slight variations may be made in the cutoff points as covered by the preceding paragraph but an independent adjustment cannot be made except by shifting the location of the suspension point which is preferably determined by a model.

How this gear is advantageous over others ?

Another class of competitors were Stephenson valve gear, bakers valve gear, the poppet valve gears, including the Caprotti valve gear, the Franklin Oscillating Cam valve gear, the Franklin Rotary Cam valve gear and others. Theoretically much more efficient, all of these suffered from the dual problems of not handling wear very well and the worse one of complexity, and were not widely adopted. The Walschearts gear could be used with three or four cylinder locomotives, too. One set of valve gear could be installed per cylinder, of course. This either required the center gear(s) to be mounted inside, or for two sets of valve gear to be mounted on the same side of the locomotive (normally driven from 2 different driving wheels). Some four cylinder locomotives had the cylinders set up so that they operated in linked pairs, and thus needed only two sets of valve gear. It was also possible to use levers to derive the valve motion for a third cylinder from that of the other two, as was done after in the Gresley - Holcroft Conjugated valve gear.

References

www.mekanizmalar.com/walschaerts_valve_gear.html www.steamlocomotive.com/appliances/valvegear.php en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walschaerts_valve_gear http://www.railway-technical.com/st-glos.shtml

Walschaerts valve gear - YouTube www.roundhouse-eng.com/pdf/wvg.pdf

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