抄録
Driven by a growing awareness of global warming which prompts calls for provision of urgent countermeasures world-wide, energy saving technologies are developing in various fields and industries. The production industry is no exception where steam plays diversified roles such as heating, drying, condensation and pasteurization in the various production processes. However, some amount of steam energy is left unused in these areas. It may not be a well-recognized issue that technologies need to be developed to effectively utilize such unused steam energy. Kobe Steel, Ltd. has developed a "screw type steam-powered compact electric power generator Steam Star" that makes use of unused steam energy while promoting further energy saving and reducing generation of carbon dioxide. The Steam Star is capable of not only generating electric power at a high efficiency even with a small amount of steam but also generating at the same time necessary steam at a reduced pressure through its pressure reduction function. This paper discusses the new technologies associated with the "screw type steam-powered compact electric power generator Steam Star", compares it with conventional turbine-driven electric power generators and introduces some case examples of its use.
