# Water jacket

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{{Short description|Water-filled casing surrounding a device for temperature control}}
{{For|the plant|Lycium andersonii}}

{{Refimprove|date=October 2007}}

A '''water jacket''' is a water-filled casing surrounding a device, typically a metal sheath having intake and outlet vents to allow water to be pumped through and circulated. The flow of water to an external heating or cooling device allows precise [temperature control](/source/temperature_control) of the device.

==Applications==
Water jackets are often used for [water cooling](/source/water_cooling) or heating. They are also used in [laboratory glassware](/source/laboratory_glassware): [Liebig](/source/Liebig_condenser), [Graham](/source/Graham_condenser), and [Allihn condenser](/source/Allihn_condenser)s. Water jackets were used to cool the barrels of [machine gun](/source/machine_gun)s until several years after the [First World War](/source/First_World_War), but modern machine guns are air-cooled to conserve weight and hence increase portability.

In a [reciprocating piston](/source/reciprocating_piston) [internal combustion engine](/source/internal_combustion_engine), the water jacket is a series of holes either cast or bored through the main [engine block](/source/engine_block) and connected by inlet and outlet valves to a [radiator](/source/radiator_(engine_cooling)).

Equipment such as [tissue culture](/source/tissue_culture) incubators may be enclosed in a water jacket kept at a constant temperature.<ref>[http://www.coleparmer.com/TechLibraryArticle/67 CO<sub>2</sub> Incubator: A Laboratory Staple].</ref>

A water jacket is used in an [Orsat analyzer](/source/Orsat_analyzer) to prevent any change in temperature from affecting the density of the gas being analyzed.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/22657/pg22657-images.html#chap17 | title=Steam, Its Generation and Use }}</ref>

The concept gives its name to the [water jacket furnace](/source/Water_jacket_furnace_(metallurgy)), a type of blast furnace, using a cold air blast, that was used for the smelting of non-ferrous metallic mineral ores. These furnaces are cooled by a water jacket arrangement.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1893-07-15 |title=Sectional Water Jacket Furnace |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/71186541 |access-date=2024-12-01 |work=[Australian Town and Country Journal](/source/Australian_Town_and_Country_Journal) |pages=24}}</ref> The terminology is also used for an indirect heating device used in the petroleum oil and gas industry, generally known as a water jacket heater<ref>{{Cite web |title=Water Jacket Heater/INDIRECT HEATER_Luoyang Runcheng Petrochemical Equipment Co.,LTD.---Focus on ASME Test Separator since 2004. |url=https://www.lrcoilequipment.com/product/73.html |access-date=2024-12-22 |website=www.lrcoilequipment.com}}</ref> or water bath heater.

== See also ==
* [Jacketed vessel](/source/Jacketed_vessel)
* [Sous vide](/source/Sous_vide){{snd}}a cooking method which utilizes the same principle for precise temperature control

== References ==
{{reflist}}

Category:Cooling technology

{{tech-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Water jacket](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_jacket) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_jacket?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.