Modern and Sustainable Steam Power

Modern and Sustainable Steam Power- the Cuban Scene

Jose Olmo Perez

(Translated from http://www.martynbane.co.uk/espanol/vapormoderna/joseolmo/cuba1.htm by Charles Turner)

Resume: In the real world there is a decided effort by many people and institutions to keep the magic and power of the steam locomotive alive, but above all the tendency is to consider it a historic relic that attracts special attention in a market linked to tourist and cultural interests.

This alternative, keeping it attractive to the possible tourist objectives, should also join with a rational policy for the sustainable development of public and industrial transportation, based on modern steam locomotives. The implementation of a whole program designed to introduce, to railroads of all types, modern steam power is a contribution to the railroad of the new age and a proposal in the interim before the high speed and high loading trains adapted to the new challenges of the transportation market.

The new modern steam power gives the versatility to use, where fossil fuels can't, alternative fuels that will permit continued utilization under any country's railroad circumstances, without the need for total dependance on imported petroleum, and reducing the expense of ever-more-expensive diesel fuel.

The modern (or new generation) steam locomotives, with gasification combustion of renewable biomass, are negligible emitters of CO and NOx, and like gasoline or natural gas greatly reduce pollution compared with the diesel.

For 160 years the steam locomotive has been present on Cuban railroads. Until the 50's it was our principal mode of power. Even today one can see 200 steam locomotives from the start of the century, operating on almost 60% of the sugar plantations of the nation. The IT Group (association of Investigation and production of Transportation) is promoting and carrying out the so-called Promise Project, bringing together a modernization program for these locomotives with a new project of building new machines of the new generation using modern steam concepts.

Locomotive 1816 (an ALCO 2-8-0) was modernized and tested in Cuba with fuel oil in the first phase, and biomass (compacted sugar cane bagasse) in the second.

A special situation for Cuba is that all the conditions coincide for bringing out this technology, which because of related questions made the traditional steam not advance in other countries.

Promoting the term Green Power with the ecological locomotives nicely translates the idea of enviromental protection of our countries with a development that is sustainable and compatible with the well-being that humanity reclaims at the threshold of the 21st century.

1. Predecessors and The Arrival of Steam Rail Power in the World

The history of this type of mechanical power began in 1830, with the first interurban train, between Liverpool and Manchester. For the first time all the elements of a modern railroad were seen together.

Within a dozen years the speed of trains doubled, while the weight of the locomotives had tripled, their power had quadrupled, and they had come to an acceptable level of feasibility. Furthermore, two fairly distinct styles of development had arisen on the two sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

Steam machinery counted among its first applications methods of transportation, not only rail, but also river boat, and even the automobile. Nevertheless, this technology, after long years of development, "slept" in spite of being a long ways from the possibilities that the laws of thermodynamics could allow.

With the appearance in the past century of the steam locomotive, the world changed in a few years to reduce to a third or less the cost and duration of trips. The steam locomotive marked, in many countries, the true arrival of civilization, and the railroad showed the possibilities of future economic development in many countries. Cuba is one of the best examples of this, as were the USA and many European countries.

Nevertheless, the classic steam locomotive didn't assimilate the thermodynamic advances and the selective breeding that after 50 years was relentlessly developing the diesel, and that finally displaced steam. The prewar work of the French and German engineers to revolutionize steam locomotive technology never was widely utilized. Germany lost the war, and France had to depend on classic technology, as help from the USA and managed under the Marshall Plan, to rehabilitate the French rails with 1500 steam locomotives.

In 1926 a French scientist named Andre Chapelon had demonstrated that the steam locomotive responded to progress if one modified the empirical designs with thermodynamics. After 50 years, on the other side of the Atlantic, a young Argentinian engineer, Livio Dante Porta, had access to the innovations that the French Chapelon and the German scientists had developed: He applied them in the prototype of a new steam locomotive and afterwards in the transformation of the Japanese locomotives aquired in the 1950's for the coal-hauling railroad of Rio Turbio, in Patagonia.

This fairly young engineer attained the same efficiency of the machines in terms of units of traffic produced per unit of fuel consumed, and eliminated the majority of problems that characterized the traditional inefficient steam locomotives.

The work of engineer Porta and his innovative technology gave him world fame, and it was applied in the modernization of steam locomotives in South Africa, Great Brittian, Sudan, Brazil and Paraguay. With the high prices of petroleum at the start of the 1980s, the ACE 3000 Project was started, for the large-scale fabrication of 17000 ultramodern steam locomotives, coal fired, with the engineer Porta as project leader.

This work was suitably recognized in the specialized press before the reality of the end of the age of cheap petroleum. But they could not displace the domination that the diesel had achieived.

The new low in petroleum prices wiped out the ACE 3000 Project, which counted on US government support, with Porta as project manager.

The new concept of Engineer Porta on the modern steam locomotive, based on Chapelon's technology, was based on the simple principles of the invention of Stephenson (a fire-tube boiler, a steam engine, and pistons that transmit force to the driving wheels by side-rods) but in a much more thermodynamically perfected design.

It is a radical new technique, applied to the modernization of steam locomotives in the design of the boiler, which provides a practically total combustion, eliminating or reducing to a minimum the contamination, the internal aerodynamics, new concepts in the draft system, an optimum utilization of the steam generated at higher or very high pressures, in its cylinders the best-of-breed advances, and the perfection of all the mechanisms that could make losses of power or sources of mechanical failures.

In the predecessors to the international scale of application of modern steam technology, ther were the following:

1949 Construction of an experimental broad-gauge 4-8-0 FCGB, with medium power of 2120 hp at the drawbar. It was a world record of power to weight (31hpe/t) and specific fuel combustion (810 g/hpe-h).

1953 Twelve machines of type 8C, local, FCGR constructed in 1915. Light modernization. These machines with two cylinders were capable of better service than the 8Es with three cylinders.

1952-1957 Approximately 50 locomotives of type 8E FCGR constructed in 1927. Light modernization. Achieved an increase in power approximately 30% and an improvement in consumption of 5%.

1955 Modernization of locomotive 3477. Constructed in 1915. Prototype of heavy modernization of the 8C series, local service on the FCGR. With this was achieved a 80% increase in power at 100 km/h, up to 1350 hpe.

1956 Three local locomotives of type 30 ex-CGBA (PBA) constructed in 1906, broad gauge, light modernization. Reached an increase in power of approximately 80%.

1957 A HUNSLET locomotive for the Puerto Capital in Argentina. Light modernization.

1962-64 Twenty new locomotives constructed in Japan between 1955 and 1963, modernized for the Rio Turbio Railway. Achieved an increase in power of 30-50%.

1969 Prototype of locomotive 1802 series C16 of FCGB. Light modernization. Reached an increase in power from 1100 hpe to 1600 hpe and an increment in fuel utilization of approximately 70%.

1958-61 Prototype of locomotive 4674, FCGB. Heavy modernization with which was achieved an increase in power of approximately 50%.

1979 Prototype of locomotive 3450, series 25NC, belonging to the South African Railways. Heavy modernization executed by Engineer D. Wardale following PORTA technology. Achieved an increase in power from 2800 to 4000 hpe and fuel consumption in ordinary service was reduced approximately 30%.

In the world there are some 20000 steam locomotives, located in China, India, South Africa, Poland, Malaysia, Cuba, Paraguay, Brazil, Zimbabwe, and on a smaller scale in many other countries. At the start of 1970 the revolution of modern steam silently continued. In the final decade the prestigious Swiss firm SULZER-SLM had been offering and constructing new H 2/3 steam locomotives for the rack railroads of the Swiss Alps.

Actually, the tourist railroads are pretty good money-makers throughout the world, but especially the steam-powered trains and ones tied to tourist and cultural attractions which have been doing well in recent years.

These days one can see steam railroads in tourist service in countries such as: China, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, South Africa, Zimbabwe, India, Jordan, United States, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand.

Steam machinery should be reborn today as an ecological mode of energy transformation. In the railroads of many countries modern steam is coming forward, characterized by the locomotive that is energy sustainable, as an alternative not only to Diesel power, but also to electric power when the traffic does not support the high costs of installation.

2. New Steam Power and Its Integration into the World Railways.

The railroads of any country need a healthy injection of funds for investment and maintenance, for increased opportunities, and to sustain their mission as part of a national transportation system. The railroads in many countries show a phenomenon of dependence that Barcelona, Spain formed economically when it implemented dieselization based on the idea of irresistable progress, but in its case, with a major compromise due to its economics.

We can look at this with a business perspective. While with the steam locomotive the construction ends with the sale, with the diesel it only begins, continuing the charges to the receiving railroad that makes the user railroad a type of captive. And when the payment for the machine ends after its short life, one finds that one should start putting money down to restart the cycle with a new purchase or with a major remotor project on the unit.

Motive power and related equipment service usually represents the major part of the expense in any plan of refurbishment or merely maintenance of a railroad. The fluctuations in the price of oil is another factor in calculating the cost of rail power, as is also the shocking cost of ever-more-expensive lubricants. The main expense in the maintanace of a diesel fleet is given by the systematic requirement for parts. It is estimated that a diesel locomotive requires 2-3% of its value annually for parts. In other words, in actual international prices, for a diesel locomotive, for example 1000 hp, represents to a third-world railroad over a million US dollars.

Very few railroads in the world admit the costs of electrification, even if they are the recipient of low-cost electric power. In this context, we also consider that the total unit expenditures of energy include not only the energy expense of the locomotive, but also count the expenditures of energy in the generation of electricty, the transmission losses, that consumed in machinery construction, and the external losses up until it is converted into useful work.

For countries where there are steam locomotives in operation (Cuba, China, Paraguay, Indonesia, India, Sudan, etc.) modernization can be an alternative, without the hurdle of aquiring modern steam locomotives that would be called new generation. For countries where there is no longer steam, the modern steam locomotive can be an option, reestablishing or bettering light traffic service (in handling and on light trains).

I has been shown that modern steam power is comparable and sometimes more efficient from the point of view of the cost of primary energy per kgf of tractive effort at the wheel. A modernization strategy of steam locomotives, active or out of service, can be put in terms of the tractive effort given, from the minimum to the maximum. A high percentage of the steam locomotives that exist in any country can be rebuilt and modernized for a new life of a least 20 years (which is the useful life of a new diesel), at a cost of one-third that of a major rebuild of a diesel, one-fourth less than the cost of a working diesel, and one twentieth the cost of a new diesel.

The new modern steam locomotives can remain in service in whatever railroad circumstances that may exist in a country, without the necessity of imported petroleum, nor expensive lubricants, nor ever-more-expensive diesel repair parts (not a good situation for our countries). If it is necessary to aquire new locomotives, the cost per hp of new steam locomotives are several times less than diesel locomotives. The steam locomotives can work with fuel oil, crude bitumen, all types of densified biomass, firewood, or gaseous fuel, alternatives that free the rail system from politics and petroleum market speculation.

If the railroad in our countries exist where the levels of efficiency fluctuate with highs and lows, what is essential is to make it work. The alternative of eliminating it as a system will always be more expensive, socially, environmentally, and even economically. To consolidate the shops to supply services in high demand, and to convert themselves into financially sound enterprises is the new twist at the end of the 20th century.

The advantage of an internal program, designed to introduce to typical railroads (not only to the tourist railroads) modern steam power is a contribution to the new railroad of the 21st century. The high-speed trains and the super freight trains, adapted to the countries with advanced rail development, will have their place. But the alternative of the remaining railroads will require an econcomically sustainable solution such as that called "Green Power" or Modern Steam Power.

Another relevant aspect to consider is the contribution that can be made to the environment. The new steam power can work completely with biomass (cordwood, plantation wood, small roundwood, sawmill residue, forest residue, agricultural residue or agricultural industry residue, densified sugar cane bagasse, for example). One can use lubricants of vegetable origin, with the exception of steam cylinder oil. Water treatment can be done with domestically produced and biodegradable products.

The steam locomotives, modern or modernized, adapted to the gasification combustion of biomass, will be negligible in the emissions of CO and NOx, and, even if they use petroleum, reduce severalfold the emissions of noxious contaminants in comparison to the diesel locomotives. This experience was obtained by the University of Munich, in tests of modern steam locomotives constructed by SLM of Switzerland.

The introduction of new steam power in the plan for sustainable transportation of a country permits the improvement of socio-economic opportunities in the creation of new sources of employment and to increase industrial capacity, bringing new construction and jobs. In time, modern steam power will require operation personnel (for operation and for maintenance), and, similarly, others for the professional preparation of said personnel and for dedicated technical assistance to this new technology.

3. Cuban Steam and National Rail Development

The rise and development of the Cuban railroads in the 19th Century is a fundamental part of the history of our country and of the world. Cuba was the sixth country to start a railroad and the first in Latin America.

The economic necessities that encouraged the railroad and its early introduction, like its later spread, followed an essential historical phenomenon in our country. The difference from that which succeeded in other countries is that the Cuban railroad was developed to help link the domestic products with the external markets. In the framework of a single-market export economy, the usage of rail is determined by the requirements of the principal and almost only exportable product: sugar.

Since 1830, the problem of land transport constituded the critical point in the sugar cycle. Compared to the poor options that conventional transportation offered, the railroad represented the saving solution for the Cuban sugar producers. This provided the incentive to build an iron road that connected the rich Guines Valley with Havana.

Unlike England and North America, the Cuban railroads never went through the classic phases of animal power later replaced by steam power. Since the invention was already clearly proven in the industrialized countries and the urgent necessity of the plantation owners demanded a radical solution in favor of exporting sugar, this industrial revolution success story introduced the latest technology to the country. That is to say, steam locomotives generally with 6 axles and of the Spanish track gauge, of a particular arrangement and with short wheelbase that could traverse without difficulty curves of much smaller radius than the European locomotives.

Begining with the first "Rockets" of the Havana-Guines railroad, the motive power fleet of all the Cuban plantations was filled basically with equipment supplied by Philadelphia, Boston, and New York. Already by 1868 there were 176 steam locomotives in service in Cuba, first burning cordwood, then shortly after, English or American coal.

The new locomotives that were constructed after 1880 were perfectly adapted to the advantages that the new technical elements offered, such as steel rail. Among the types preferred by the Cuban plantations one found the "Consolidation" type, made in Philadelphia, which had a boiler of large capacity, a new type of more efficient compensated valve, and 6 axles connected to it, with a idler in front and small drivers behind. [translator note: the Consolidation had 8 drive wheels coupled together].

The maximum steam pressure was 9.3 kg/cm2. These machines were comparatively better than earlier models. The proprotions permitted an increase of almost 50% in hauling capacity, with only a 14% increase in weight and 35% increase in coal consumption.

So for more than 160 years the steam locomotives were present on our railroads. Until the 1950s it was the principal mode of power in the country, with the exception of the electric Hershy Line (Casablanca-Matanzas) and some "Plymouth" gasoline and diesel locomotives scattered on cane plantations.

Operating on different gauges: 56-1/2" (standard gauge in our country and the most universal), or on narrow gauges: 3', 2'10-1/2", 2'6", and 2'3-3/4", one could see dozens of different types of steam locomotives working on the sugar plantation railroads, which was something hard to find in other countries.

The most common wheel arrangements of Cuban steam locomotives are:

2-6-0 (MOGUL)

2-6-2 (PRARIE)

2-8-0 (CONSOLIDATION)

and on a small scale the 0-4-0, 0-6-0, 0-8-0 and the 2-8-2 (MIKADO).

To this day, more than two hundred steam locomotives serve trains in the Cuban sugar industry, where steam power is essential for 56 Sugar Agri-Industrial Complexes, and the long haul, where 30 operate exclusively with steam power. Even with the deteriorated condition of the actual locomotives, the steam power has lower cost per unit of traffic than the diesel, according to the studies done by the Polytechnic Superior Institute (ISPJAE) of Havana.

4. The New Steam Power and the Cuban Situation. From the start of the 1990s, our country suffered an acute energy crisis as a consequence of the economic blockade of the United States, the fall of the Socialists in Europe, and the constant increase of petroleum prices.

Engineer Porta was invited in 1992 to collaborate with Cuba in the application of his technology, with the objective of reduing the dependence of the railroads on the importation of diesel fuel, which initialized the so-called "PROMISE PROJECT."

In the particular case of the Cuban railroads, the fleet of diesel locomotives had in its majority more than 20 years of service and there were serious economic limitations for aquiring spare parts or new equiment. According to analysis done by the IT Group, in the Development Plan of Transportation until the year 2000, they planned for this horizon, with modest increments in the volumes of freight and passengers by rail, in spite of the continuing conditions of that time and the tightening of the blockade of the USA against our country. Before this situation the motive power capacity in its entirety (public and industrial) had sufferd a high degree of deterioration, almost completely destroying its useful life. To reclaim this fleet signified a costly investment (calculated at several 100 million dollars US) if one only considered necessarily imported diesel locomotives.

As a fundamental principal of this new technology is is clearly evident that the proposed steam power is not a throwback to a definitely dead past, but a technology that projects into the future with high speeds and tonnage in accordance with what in Cuba we have already made, the rail.

The sugar industry has in existence some 100 steam locomotives of standard guage and of power and weight that they would have the possibility, when modernized, of pulling whatever type of freight or passenger train instead of the sugar crop in emergency situations or for national convenience. Concerning steam motive power, in recent years the Cuban sugar industry has been delineated a rational strategy in the face of the realities in front of our country. Today, we start with saving the steam power where possible, and gain the option of total or partial modernization various machines according to the experience of the No. 1816, which was totally reconstructed.

The recovery of the sugar production in the coming years will demand the repositioning and increase of the motive power fleet in the sugar railroads. The alternative of doing it with steam locomotives is an interesting problem. As a possible solution to solve the crisis, given the possibility of the boilers to use diverse fuels (coal, firewood, fuel oil as the most usual), the value that the steam power could have became evident.

4.1. Modern Steam Locomotives for the 21st Century that are Energy Sustainable.

Given the critical situation that the Cuban railroad motive power fleet presents, whose deterioration has been accelerating in recent years, combined with the underutilization of the tractive power of this fleet, has forced the railroad authorities to look for rational solutions to counter these problems. Studies done by the IT Group show that the majority (70%) of this fleet are diesels of low power (under 1000 hp), while the level of availibility of the fleet is barely above 45%.

As a result of these studies it was proposed as an alternative solution, the introduction of modern steam locomotives with powers of 800 hp for use for pulling light freight trains, passenger and work trains. According to analysis done in hindsight, the feasibility of employing this type of machinery before an unsatisfied and growing demand in traffic will require incorporating for the year 2007 some 36 to 38 modern steam locomotives with the goal of substituing a similar quantity of diesels of equivalent power.

The introduction of these new modern steam units will be a function of the real feasiblility of building this equipment well in the country, or in a foreign country and creating the required conditions of use. These aspects are being studied by the Promise Project in the framework which has realized already the technical project of a totally new energy self-sustainible locomotive, designated the LVM 800.

In parallel, studies have been done about the construction of this machine. According to evaluation of the Cuban steel industry and foreign experts, the country has the technological and the project capability to complete the general design, including the combustion system, the working drawings, and the production management in Cuba of this type of machine. The Project is about to introduce a prototype locomotive, still more attractive, that will be better adapted to the local conditions of care and with low costs in maintenance and operation.

The machine is conceived as a locomotive fueled by biomass. This technology does not exist in the market. The design will be so simple, such that it can be licensed to as many industries and countries as possible. It will be a welded construction without a single important component that is cast steel. The advanced technology rests in well developed principles, such as a few examples:

Higher pressures and temperatures of steam.

More energy-efficient exhaust.

Preheat of water and air with exhaust steam.

Gasification combustion.

Advanced water treatment to prevent corrosion.

Thanks to better adhesion, better tractive effort.

According to results in process, in 1997 we had conversations with Swiss experts from the SLM factory, German specialists, and North Americans interested in this technology. At this time the Project is in the phase of looking for financing and evaluating the costs of production in Cuban or foreign factories.

4.2. Cuban Experiences in the Modernization of a Steam Locomotive (ALCO 2-8-0 #1816).

The modernization of steam locomotives has been defined as the partial application of the principles that are executed in the design of of new locomotives, applied to the existing locomotives, without introducing structural modifications and while conserving the principal components.

This application extends in the broad sense to not only include the distict elements of the locomotive, but also the inspiring theory such as the thermodynamic energy transformation mechanism, as well as the principles of operation and maintenance. The objectives can vary widely if the project is general or can be very specific if applied to a particular locomotive. Also it can be presented as a "passive" form, that is, to see if one could make a particular locomotive perform within a specification, given presumed circumstances such as time, industrial facilities, future scenarios, the energy scene, costs of motive power, etc. These objectives are those that have been pursued with the modernization of No. 1816.

5. Characteristics of Locomotive No. 1816.

Locomotive 1816 is a "Consolidation" type machine, with two cylinders 20"x26"; 50" drivers, and built in the USA by ALCO in 1919 for standard (4'8-1/2") gauge. The nominal tractive force at a pressure of 180 psig is 31750 lbs (14432 kgf), which assumes an adhesive weight of approximately 60 tons force.

The boiler is a straight-top type with a diameter of 64". It has 21 superheater elements (128/136; 31/38), the small tubes are 2". The area of the tube surface of the large tubes is smaller than the average of the total which indicates a low steam temperature, below 330 deg C. The hot water feed is by a reciprocating pump and a heat exchanger, or alternatively by injector. The cylinders, by design, were poorly insulated, the maximum power attained about 1440 hp and the maximum speed of the design is 80 km/h.

5.1 Modernization of the Boiler

Because of the condition of the original boiler, extensive repair work was done, using various welding techniques, for which it was necessary to use rigorous quality control in the repairs in:

Welding repair of the boiler shell,

Verifying the state of the rivets.

The principal work of boiler modernization consisted of:

New tubular plates were constructed, augmenting the number of superheater elements.

A LEMPOR ejector was built, to decrease the exhaust back-pressure.

Exterior scraping and anticorrosive paint on the exterior sheets of the boiler.

Replaced the original set of stays with articulated TROSS type.

Insulation with with glass wool of the shell and the firebox.

Application of gasification combustion (exhaust steam injection into the primary air, two guillotine doors for the furnace, secondary air tuyeres).

Determining the maximum boiler pressure, thicknesses inspection, material tests and calculations, safety valve adjustment, hydrostatic test.

Contruction and mounting of the alternative water pump for heated feedwater to the boiler.

5.2 Modernization of the Motive Part of the Machine.

As the main modernized elements of the motive part of the machine we have the following:

"Exagerated" insulation for the steam cylinders using glass wool, with the object of minimizing as much as possible the losses of steam from the heat transfer to the surroundings.

New piston valves with 16 rings, which substatially increases their effectiveness, increasing the inner seal.

New pistons with greater number of piston rings of smaller thickness to get a better internal seal.

Reboring the cylinders, and smoothing the sharp edges that affect the steam flow (improve the internal aerodynamics).

New Paxton-Mitchell mainrod packing system.

Counter-rod and air compressor, which substantially reduce the steam losses by these reciprocating parts.

Installation of an additional air compressor, actuated directly from the drive train (reduces the steam use by the principal compressor and augments the compressed air capacity for train service).

Lubrication of the mechanism and the packing boxes, plastic tubing, cylinder oil, etc to allow it to go 2000 km without service.

Adjusting the balance of the counterweights of the locomotive.

Modifying the cylinder lubrication system to the requirements of superheated steam.

Installation of a pump for pre-heat water.

5.3 Modernization of the Cab

Improvements in work conditions for the engineer and fireman were introduced by the redesign of the cab. The most important were to make it the least hot as possible:

Taking all the exhaust pipes to the outside.

Wood insulation on the roof and walls.

Subsituting a water glass for the try-cocks.

Reworking the design of the ladder and handrails.

5.4 Modernization of the tender.

The fuel capacity was increased by raising the sides, front, back, etc. with welded sheet metal. The water intake consisted of a bag that went back to receive a hose. The trucks were changed to some of better design (Japanese type Sumimoto). Baffles were placed in the water tank to reduce waves.

5.5 Internal Water Treatment for the Modernized Locomotive. The possibility of modernizing the steam locomotive 1816 to reach a superior energy efficiency (2nd Generation locomotive), raising the power from 1200 to 2000 hp, substituting the empirical design for the thermodynamic one, and employing additional rings to reduce the loss of steam in the cylinders, along with other technological advances, implies opportunities in the water treatment. If in a 1st Generation locomotive, (those that the railroad actually might have had on the sugar railroad), the phenomenons of forming foam, insoluble salts (incrustations), and corrosion are undesirable, in the 2nd Generation they are intolerable. It is because of this that the treatment of water should be rigorous enough that it will not produce any of the effects previously mentioned.

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