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Re: Re: Why did steam tractors die out
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Posted by Bob M on February 17, 2003 at 08:26:41 from (165.170.128.68):
In Reply to: Re: Why did steam tractors die out posted by G Taylor on February 17, 2003 at 06:35:24:
Add to the above issues the inherent poor fuel economy of the steam engine! Under IDEAL conditions the thermodynamic efficiency (% of energy in the fuel that appears as mechanical energy at the output shaft) of an open cycle steam engine is about 2 - 3%. In the real world with imperfect combustion, boiler scaling, sloppy operation, etc. effiency will be less. A gas tractor on the other hand can have a real world thermodynamic effiency of 6% - 8%; a diesel 10 - 12% or so. Means that a steamer requires between 3 and 6 times the BTU input (from coal, wood, fuel oil or whatever...) of an equivalent internal combustion powered tractor. Back when gas was 25 cents and fuel oil was a dime, poor fuel efficiency helped doom the steamer. Railroads figured this out very quickly in the late 40's. With gas and fuel oil rapidly approaching $2 the argument is now even more compelling!
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