Experiment No.

5
Title: To determine the dryness fraction of Steam

I Introduction
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I\ The temperature change of a gas or liquid when it is forced
' through a valve or poroµs plug while
kept insulated so that no heat is exchanged with the enviro
nment. This procedure is called a
Throttling process. This temperature can be described by the
"Joule-Thomson effect" or "Joul e-
Kelvin effect" or "Kelvin-Joule effect" or "Joule-Thomson
expansion". In the Joule experiment,
• the gas expands in a vacuum and the temperature drop of
the system is zero, if the gas were ideal.
In this process here is no change in enthalpy from state one
to state two, h 1 = h2; no work is done,
W = O; and the process is adiabatic, Q = O. Let's take an examp
le of a throttling process is an ideal
gas flowing through a valve in mid position. We can observe
that: Pin> Pout, velin < v_elout (where
P = pressure and vel = velocity). These observations confirm
the theory that hin = hout. Reme mber
h = u + PV (v . specific volume), so if pressure decreases
then specific volume must increase if
enthalpy is to remain constant (assuming u is constant). Becau
se mass flow is constant, the chang e
in specific volume is observed as an increase in gas veloci
ty. The theory also states W = 0. Our
observations again confirm this to be true as clearly no "work
" has been done by the throttling
,process. Finally, the theory states that an ideal throttling proces
s is adiabatic. This canno t clearly
be proven by observation since a "real" throttling proces
s is not ideal and will have some heat
transfer. In this process, steam becomes drier and nearly
saturated steam becomes, superheated.
As a gas expands, the average distance between molecules
grows. Because of intermolecular
e attractive forces , expansion causes an increase in the potent
work is extracted in the process and no heat is transferred,
ial energy of the gas. If no external
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the total energy of the gas remains the

same because of the conservation of energy. The increa
se in potential energy thus implies a
decrease in kinetic energy and therefore in temperature.
A second mechanism has the opposite
effect. During gas molecule collisions, kinetic energy is
temporarily converted into potential
energy. As the average intermolecular dist~ ce increases, there
is a drop in the number of collisions
per time unit, which causes a decrease in average potent
ial energy. Again, total energy is
conserved, so this leads to an increase in kinetic energy (temp
erature). Below the Joule-Thomson
inversion temperature, the former effect (work done intern
ally against intermolecular attractive
forces) dominates, and free expansion causes a decrease
in temperature. Above the inversion
temperature, gas molecules move faster and so collide more
often, and the latter effect (reduced
collisions causing a decrease m the average potential energy) dominates: Joule-Thomson
expansion causes a temperature increase.

Separating Calorimeter

It consists of two concentric chambers the inner chamber and the outer chamber, which
'
comm~nicates with each other through an opening at the top. As the steam discharges through the
metal basket, which has a large number of holes, the water particles due to their heavier momentum
get separated from the steam and collect in the chamber. The comparatively dry steam in the inner
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chamber moves up and then down aging through the annular space between t~e two chambers and
enters the Throttling Calorimeter. (I}
It is a vessel used initially to. separate some of the ~oisture from the steam, to ensure superheat '

conditions after throttling. The steam is made to change. direction suddenly; the moisture droplets,
?eing heavier than the vapor, drop out of suspension and are collected at the bottom of the vessel.

Water
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StlamOUtllt
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 Throttling Calorimeter

It consists a narrow throat (Orifice). Pre~sure and temperature are

measured by pressure gauge and
thermometer. The steam after throttling process passes through the
heat exchanger and conde nsate
is collected. Steam Generator is also prov'ided to supply the saturat
ed steam (Max) at 2kg/cm2
pressure. There is no need of boiler.
It is a vessel with a needle valve fitted on the inlet side. The steam
is throttled through the needle
valve and exhausted to the condenser.

Dryness Factor

The quality of wet steam is usually defined by its dryness fractio

n. When the _dryness fraction,
pressure and temperature of the steam are known, then the state
. of wet steam is fully defined. In a
.
•steam plant it is at times necessary to know the state of the
steam. For wet steam, this entails
finding the dryness fraction. When the steam is very wet, we make
use of a separating calorimeter.

Combined Calorimeter

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i
 ·
Separating calorimeter does not give an accurate resu 1t ano the throttlin
.
g calorimeter fails if the
· · •
steam is not superheated after throttling ~ A combin ation o f separat'tn g and throttling calorim eter is
therefore found most suitable for accurate measurement of dryness of steam.

main
Outlet
X : 7·P3, h3
Separating Throttle
calorimeter -valve

Cooling water
inlet

PROCEEDURE

l. Cleaning the setup: Firstly clean the setup and fill your setup with distilled water.
2. Temperature set: Set the temp~rature of steam gene~ator up to 400 K.
3. Maintain the pressure: Now slowly open the needle valve, maintain the constan
t gauge
pressure.
4. Steady state is reached: When ~teady state is' reached note the pressure differen
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,, :1 • •
ce from
manometer and Temperature after throttling by th~om eter;
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5. Collecting the moisture: Collect the suspended moisture from the_ separating
and
throttling calorimeter then Weigh it.
6. Now at last calculate the dryness factor by the given formulae.

Utilities Required •
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I.Water supply continuous for heat exchanger I

2.Space required: 1.0mx 1.0 meter

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3:Electricity supply: Single phase 220 V /\C and 4 K.W

4.Electronic balance say 1 kg
5.Steam table for calculation. ti
 . Dryn~Factor

.
Tenn dryness factor refers to wet steam. It 1s de fimed as ra t·ion° f mass of dry steam actually
present to the mass of wet steam, which contains
it.
Let in sample of wet steam
X=Wd/ (Wd+W)
Where
X= Dryness factor of sample,
Wd =Weigh of dry steam in kg
f@ W=Weigh of water vapour in suspension

Separating and Throttling Calorimeter

The steam passing out from a separating calorimete

r may still contain some vapours in it. In other s
words it may not absolutely dry. Again in a throt
tling calorimeter steam a_fter passi ng throu gh
throttle valve must be s~perheated or at least dry.s
aturated. This limits the extent of dryness factor.
It can be reliably measured, depend on the pressure
of the steam in the main steam pipe. If samp le
of steam which may still wet after passing through
the throttle valve i.e. it will not be superheated.
To overcome the difficulties we make use of co.mb
ined separating and throttling. First steam is
passed through separating calorimeter where it
loses most part of the it's moisture· and beco me
comparatively drier. It is then passed through the··t
hrottling calorimet~r where superheating takes
place without change of total heat. The temperatu
re and pressure of the steam after throttling are
measured by using a thermometer and manomete
r separately.

Description

The setup consist of separating and throttling calor

imeter. A steam generator is provided at the
base of apparatus. A digital temperature controller
provided to control the temperature inside the
steam generator. Steam from the generator passe
d from separating calorimeter where most of the
wate r particle gets separated from steam and then
passed from separating calorimeter where most
of the water particles gets separated from steam
and then passed to throttling calorimeter where
•steam gets superheated. After that superheated
steam passed through exchanger to condense the
 st
eam. A manometer and thermometer are connected \\ith throttling calorimeter to measure the
pressure and temperature after throttling process.

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 COEP TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY, PUNE
Wellesley Road, Shivajinagar, Pune-411 005
C0£PTK~

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 COEP TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY, PUNE
Wellesley Road, Shivajinagar, Pune-411 005

OEP19d1

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