In order to further increase the output of steel, angel rifles and cannons, in addition to expanding several production plants, adding several production lines, and adding more workers and technicians, Xia Xue knows that it is difficult to further improve production capacity and work efficiency by relying on manpower, water power, and animal power alone.

The principles of the steam engine and the internal combustion engine are similar, and although the structure is very complicated, for Xia Xue, who has already made a more complex angel cannon, he feels full of confidence. This is also the advantage of having the scientific knowledge and historical experience of later generations, that is, to be able to find the right solution quickly, and to know that the solution will not fail, and not afraid to take a detour. For people who don't have knowledge and experience in this area, they don't know what to do when they encounter this kind of problem, and if someone really wants to design a steam engine or something, he himself will not be confident that he can succeed, and most people will take many detours and waste a lot of time, and Xia Xue from the future will definitely not make such a mistake, so her success rate is very high. For example, on the thruster of the ship, later generations have been using the paddle wheel, which rotates and the blades move the water to propel the ship. Although paddle wheel thrusters are a step forward from propellers and oars, they are bulky and inefficient. And if Xia Xue wanted to design the ship's thrusters, she would definitely give up the paddle wheel at the beginning and directly study more advanced propeller thrusters. It's like Xia Xue knows that she wants to let her son. Shells and shells fly farther and hit more accurately, which requires rifling, and if there is no knowledge of later generations, it is difficult for ordinary people to know the mystery even if they study it for a lifetime.

Just do it, this is Xia Xue's character.

She called Xu Mo again, and soon devoted herself to the study of steam engines and internal combustion engines.

Although the queen's research and development is one after another, it is very hard, but with the queen by her side, Xu Mo feels that no matter how bitter it is, it is sweet.

So Xu Mo just finished the research and development of the angel cannon, and began to study the ancient machine structure of the steam engine with Xia Xue.

After all, a genius girl is a genius girl, a genius engineer is a genius engineer after all, and more than two months later, with the joint efforts of Xia Xue and Xu Mo, a high-pressure steam engine with a reciprocating piston engine was born. This steam engine is a reciprocating power machine that converts the energy of steam into mechanical work. The principle is to convert the kinetic energy in water vapor into work.

This steam engine Xia Xue is still named: Angel Steam Engine.

The angel steam engine is mainly composed of cylinder, base, piston, crank connecting rod mechanism, slide valve steam distribution mechanism, speed regulating mechanism and flywheel. The cylinder and base are stationary parts.

Using a double-acting piston, pressurized steam in one cylinder can be pushed into one cylinder by reducing the pressure to normal atmospheric pressure or during its condensation. The cylinders are completely enclosed to prevent steam escape. A slide bar converts reciprocating motion into rotational motion through a rocker shaft and curved wall. Another curved wall and bearing are used to control the valve. If two double-acting pistons are used at the same time, the phase of their curved walls is generally exactly 90 degrees, so that the engine can work at all times, and the efficiency is greatly improved.

This steam engine requires a boiler that boils water to produce high-pressure steam, a boiler that is not picky about fuel and can use wood, coal, oil or gas or even garbage as a heat source. The steam expansion pushes the piston to do work.

In terms of speed, the angel steam engine is much higher than the Watt steam engine at the end of the 18th century, which is only 40~50 rpm, and the initial speed reaches 100~300 rpm.

In terms of power, the Angel steam engine has a power of up to 5 thousand horsepower.

The weakness of the Angel steam engine is basically the same as that of the steam engine in history, it is inseparable from the boiler, and the whole device is bulky and bulky; The pressure and temperature of the new steam should not be too high, the discharge pressure should not be too low, and the thermal efficiency should not be improved. It is a reciprocating machine where the force of inertia limits the increase in rotational speed; The working process is discontinuous, and the flow of steam is limited, which limits the increase in power.

Therefore, Xia Xue will resolutely not use a huge and bulky steam engine on the ship, and the steam engine is currently only suitable for use in mines, steel mills, forging plants, machine tool factories, production workshops, textile factories and other factories.

On ships, and even on the small train that transports ore from the mines, Xia Xue decided to abandon the bulky steam engine and use the lightweight, small, thermally efficient, and flexible internal combustion engine as the power machine.

After the successful development of the steam engine, Xia Xue and Xu Mo immediately devoted themselves to the research and development of the internal combustion engine after a short celebratory break.

Because the basic structure, transmission form, and many components of the internal combustion engine and the steam engine are basically the same, Xia Xue and Xu Mo successfully developed the internal combustion engine in less than a month.

She named the internal combustion engine: Angel Internal Combustion Engine.

The Angel internal combustion engine inherits the basic structure and transmission form of the Angel steam engine, and adopts the method of directly inputting fuel into the cylinder for combustion, forming a thermal cycle with much higher thermal efficiency.

Angel internal combustion engine is a piston type internal combustion engine, a piston type internal combustion engine mixes fuel and air, burns in its cylinder, and the heat energy released makes the cylinder produce high-temperature and high-pressure gas. The gas expansion pushes the piston to do work, and then outputs the mechanical work through the crank connecting rod mechanism or other mechanisms to drive the driven machinery to work.

The fuel used in the Angel internal combustion engine is petroleum, because there will be a large number of unburned components to form carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, toner or other by-products after direct combustion of oil, thus causing pollution to the environment, and the utilization rate of direct combustion is not too high. And there are many good things in oil, such as fuel oil, lubricating oil, petroleum wax, petroleum asphalt, petroleum coke and various petrochemical raw materials, etc., if a fire is burned, it is indeed a pity.

Since the Angel Kingdom has begun to have the prototype of industrialization, Xia Xue decided to simply spread the stall larger, and build a petroleum refinery, petroleum refining research and design institutions at the same time when developing internal combustion engines. The main production units in petroleum refineries usually include: crude oil distillation, thermal cracking, catalytic cracking, hydrocracking, petroleum coking, catalytic reforming and refinery gas processing, etc., mainly producing gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, diesel, fuel oil, lubricating oil, petroleum wax, petroleum asphalt, petroleum coke and various petrochemical raw materials.

The petrochemical raw materials provided by the petroleum refining industry can be used to produce synthetic fibers, synthetic rubber, plastics, fertilizers, pesticides, etc.

Therefore, at the same time as the construction of the petroleum refinery, a series of related engineering and research institutions are also being planned.

However, according to the current industrial level and scientific and technological level, there is no need to consider synthetic fibers, synthetic rubber, plastics, fertilizers, pesticides, etc., and Xia Xue knows that it will not be possible to achieve it in a few years.

Therefore, Xia Xue's current refinery is still mainly engaged in the production of diesel, gasoline, lubricating oil, petroleum wax, petroleum asphalt, and everyone knows the importance of diesel, gasoline and lubricating oil. Petroleum wax is also useful, because its main component is paraffin, which can be used as moisture-proof and waterproof packaging materials for food and other commodities. Whereas, petroleum asphalt can be used to pave roads, etc.

After the internal combustion engine was designed, it was the turn of the ship's propulsion "propeller". Compared with the rifles, cannons, steam engines, and internal combustion engines developed and designed in front, the ship's thruster propeller is simply scum, and when designing the propeller, Xia Xue couldn't help but laugh quietly, this propeller is indeed too simple for Xia Xue, a high-quality student.

Soon, in less than ten days, the marine propeller was designed and produced.

This marine propeller consists of a paddle blade and a pulp hub. The part connecting the propeller with the tail shaft is called the pulp hub, and the pulp hub is a conical body. In order to reduce the resistance of water, a fairing is added at the back end of the pulp hub to form a smooth streamlined body with the pulp hub, which is called the hub cap.

The part of the propeller that generates thrust in the water is called the propeller, and the propeller is fixed on the pulp hub, because it is designed for large ships, this propeller blade is 4 blades. The 2-blade propeller is only used on dinghies.

Because it was too simple, Xia Xue did not name it Angel Propeller, but directly named it: Marine Propeller. Because Xia Xue knows that propellers are also used on airplanes.

Xia Xue knew that at least two propellers would be installed on general large ships in later generations, so Xia Xue asked Xu Mo to lead the workers to produce another internal combustion engine and propeller according to the drawings and specifications.

Half a month later, Xia Xue prepared to install her new equipment on one of her specially modified galleons. The two propellers were installed on the left and the right to the bottom of the stern of the big ship, and after the waterproof sealing treatment was done, two internal combustion engines were installed in the upper cabin connecting the propeller at the bottom and connected to the shaft of the propeller.

All the new experiments, Xia Xue is strictly confidential, so, both sides of the dock are sent to the army martial law, no idlers watch, Xia Xue and the bearded guest and other admirals boarded the new sailing ship after the transformation, Xia Xue personally operated, started the internal combustion engine, now the internal combustion engine is burning Xia Xue's refined diesel, the internal combustion engine emitted a loud rumbling sound, and it also spewed black smoke, which startled the bearded guest and other generals, "Why is this thing so noisy?" Why do you still spray black smoke? ”

Xia Xue smiled, "It's okay, this machine is like this, but it has a lot of strength!" ”

Of course, Xia Xue knows that in order to obtain more power, the internal combustion engine she designed chooses the structure and working mode of the diesel engine, and the diesel engine uses compressed air to increase the air temperature, so that the air temperature exceeds the spontaneous ignition point of the diesel, and then sprays the diesel, and the diesel spray is mixed with the air and ignites and burns at the same time. Therefore, the diesel engine does not require an ignition system. At the same time, the fuel supply system of diesel engines is also relatively simple, so the reliability of diesel engines is better than that of gasoline engines. Due to the fact that it is not limited by deflagration and the need for spontaneous combustion of diesel, the compression ratio of diesel engines is very high. The thermal efficiency and economy are better than that of the gasoline engine, and at the same time, in the case of the same power, the torque of the diesel engine is large, the speed at the maximum power is low, and the fuel economy and thermal efficiency are high, which is very suitable for the use of large ships.

However, the diesel engine works roughly, the vibration and noise are large, and the emission of soot and particles is more serious, so once the diesel is ignited, a large amount of black smoke will be emitted, which is actually normal.

Xia Xue muttered in her heart: "If I now have the technologies of electronically controlled injection, common rail, turbocharging and intercooling, it will definitely be less noisy and no black smoke." ”

However, Xia Xue knows that diesel is very stable compared to gasoline, and it is difficult to ignite, but the stable characteristics of diesel are just suitable for compression ignition internal combustion engines, and diesel will not detonate in the case of a very high compression ratio, which is exactly what Xia Xue needs, and the biggest feature of diesel engines is fuel economy and high thermal efficiency, which is also what Xia Xue needs. If you use gasoline now, you may detonate the fryer.

After starting the internal combustion engine, Xia Xue and the bearded guest and other admirals walked out of the cabin and came to the deck, when the sky was blowing against the wind, Xia Xue let all the sails be lowered.

In the past, when a sailboat encountered a headwind, the sailboat could not sail completely head-on against the wind. The angle of the hull and sail needs to be adjusted at the same time, and the wind force against the wind can be split into two forces, one hull pushes to the side and the other pushes in the direction of the bow, the force on the side is canceled out due to the drag of the hull draft, and the other force pushes the hull towards the bow.

Every once in a while, the crew changed the direction of the hull and sails so that the boat could move in a zigzag pattern, which sailors called "wind-rushing boating".

The bearded guest and other admirals wondered why Xia Xue didn't adjust the angle of the sails and move along the zigzag route, but instead lowered the sails, so how could the big ship move forward.

But they were soon astonished to find that the great ship under their feet was still moving steadily against the wind without any sails, and faster than when it was downwind.