Lempor exhaust system
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The Lempor ejector is a steam locomotive exhaust system developed by noted Argentine locomotive engineer Livio Dante Porta. The ejector's name is a portmanteau of the names of Porta and Belgian locomotive engineer Maurice Lemaître.
In a steam locomotive, draft is produced in the firebox by exhausting the steam coming from the cylinders into the Chimney via a nozzle or 'blast pipe' that creates a vacuum in the Smokebox. The Lempor ejector is a development of similar multiple orifice/nozzle ejectors which create either a stronger vacuum or the same vacuum more efficiently by presenting less 'back pressure' or resistance to the exhausting cylinder.
The modern Lempor ejector consists of four main components:
- The blast pipe or Tuyere made up of four nozzles which have convergent/divergent sections
- The mixing chamber
- The diffuser
- The Kordina which is so designed that each 'puff' of exhaust steam creates a vacuum in the other cylinder