Flash boiler

A flash boiler is a type of water-tube boiler, whose tubes are strong and close together with water pumped through the tubes. The tubes are kept very hot so the water feed is quickly flashed into steam and superheated. The flash boiler was invented by Léon Serpollet, who used the design in his steam-powered cars.

Flash boilers are lighter and less bulky than other types, and take less time to raise steam from a cold start. On the other hand they are more prone to overheat, because there is no large reservoir of water to cool the tubes if the water flow is interrupted or inadequate.

Examples

Examples include:

• industrial steam generators ^[1]
• the water-tube boilers of the monotube type used in steam cars, such as:
  • AMC
  • Doble
  • Gardner-Serpollet
  • Locomobile
• the very simple type of boiler found in pop-pop boats
• Early aircraft engines, such as the one designed for the Du Temple Monoplane of 1874.

References

External links

• http://www.phoenixnavigation.com/ptbc/articles/ptbc38.htm