E233 – Thermofluids

P06
The Second Law of Thermodynamics

E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering

 Thermal Energy Reservoirs
A reservoir is a body that
can supply and absorb
energy in the form of heat
without undergoing any
change in temperature
Thermal energy reservoirs
are often referred to as
heat reservoirs. A
reservoir that supplies heat
is called a source, and that
absorbs heat is called a
sink.
E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering
 Work and Heat
Work done by the shaft is first
converted to the internal energy
of the water. This energy may
then leave the water as heat.

Any attempt to reverse the process,

that is transferring heat to the water,
will not cause the shaft to rotate.
Converting heat to work requires
therefore the use of some special
device called heat engines
E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering
 Heat Engines
HEAT ENGINES differ considerably
from one another, but all can be
characterised by the following:
1. They receive heat, Qin, from a
high-temperature SOURCE
2. They convert part of this heat to
work, Wnet,out
3. They reject the remaining heat,
Qout, to a low-temperature SINK as
waste heat
4. They operate on a cycle

E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering

 Steam Power Plant as Heat Engine
A schematic of a simple steam power plant is shown. It
is a work-producing heat engine.
Qin is the heat supplied to the boiler from a high-
temperature source to convert the water to steam.
Qout is the heat rejected by the
steam in the condenser to a low-
temperature sink.
Wout is the work delivered by
steam as it expands in turbine.
Win is the work required to
compress water to boiler
pressure.
E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering
 Steam Power Plant ‐ Performance
The net work output is,
Wnet,out = Wout - Win
1st Law of Thermodynamics
for cyclic process is :
0
Qnet,in - Wnet,out = ΔU
Wnet,out = Qnet,in = Qin - Q out

Net work output

Thermal efficiency, ηth = , that is,
Total heat input
Wnet,out Qin - Q out Q out
ηth = = = 1-
Qin Qin Qin
E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering
 Cyclic Devices
A uniform treatment of cyclic devices
such as heat engines, refrigerators
and heat pumps is to view them as
operating between a high-temperature
reservoir at TH and supplying heat QH
to the cyclic device, and at low-
temperature reservoir at TL and
receiving heat QL from the cyclic
device. Under these conditions,
Wnet,out = Q H - Q L
Wnet,out Q H - Q L QL
η th = = = 1-
QH QH QH
E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering
 Worked Example
Heat is transferred to a heat engine from
a furnace at a rate of 80 MW. If the rate of
waste heat rejection to a nearby river is
50 MW. Determine the power output and
the thermal efficiency of this heat engine.

Wnet,out = Q H - Q L = 80 - 50 = 30 MW
Wnet,out 30
η th = = = 0.375
QH 80

That is, this heat engine converts

37.5% of heat it receives to work.
E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering
 Car as Heat Engine
A car engine with a power output of 50 kW has a thermal
efficiency of 24%.Determine the fuel consumption of this car if
the fuel has a calorific value (CV) of 44,000 kJ/kg.

Wnet,out Wnet,out 50
η th = ⇒ QH = =
QH η th 0.24
= 208.3 kW
208.3QH
&
m(CV) = QH ⇒ m
& = =
(CV) 44000
= 0.00473 kg/s

E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering

 2nd Law of Thermodynamics
The Kelvin-Planck statement of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics on
heat engines is:
It is impossible for any device that operates on a cycle to receive
heat from a single reservoir and produce a net amount of work.

Impossible!
Qh = Wnet,out Possible!
& QL = 0 Qh > Wnet,out
& QL ≠ 0

E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering

 2nd Law of Thermodynamics (cont’d)
The Clausius statement of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics on
refrigerators (or heat pumps) is:
It is impossible to construct a device that operate in a cycle and
produces no effect other than the transfer of heat from a lower-
temperature body to a higher-temperature body.

Impossible!
Qh = QL ; Wnet,out = 0 Possible!
Qh > QL ; Wnet,out ≠ 0

E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering

 Carnot Heat Engine & its Cycle
The best known reversible cycle is the
Carnot cycle. The hypothetical heat engine
that operates on the Carnot cycle is the
Carnot heat engine. The 4 reversible
processes that make up the Carnot cycle
are:
ab – Reversible isothermal heat addition
bc – Reversible adiabatic expansion
cd – Reversible isothermal cooling
da – Reversible adiabatic compression
Carnot heat engine is not a practical engine but
it has the highest thermal efficiency. It is used to
compare the merit of different real engines.

E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering

 Carnot Heat Engine Efficiency
The thermal efficiency of any heat engines,
reversible or irreversible, is given by,
QL
η th = 1-
QH
For reversible cycles, the heat transfer ratio
and the absolute temperature ratio are,
⎛ QH ⎞ TH
⎜ ⎟ =
⎝ L ⎠rev TL
Q
Then the Carnot efficiency or the efficiency
of any reversible heat engine becomes,
TL
η th,rev = 1-
TH
E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering
 Carnot Heat Engine Efficiency (cont’d)
Carnot efficiency is the highest efficiency a heat engine operating between the two
thermal energy reservoirs at temperature TL and TH can have. The efficiency of real
engine cannot exceed the Carnot efficiency due to irreversibility. Therefore,
⎧< η th,rev is irreversible heat engine
⎪
ηth ⎨= ηth,rev is reversible heat engine
⎪> η
⎩ th,rev is imposible heat engine
An inventor claims to have developed a heat engine that receives 700 kJ of heat from a
source at 500K and produces 300 kJ of net work while rejecting the waste heat to a
sink at 290K. Is this a reasonable claims? Why?
TL 290
ηth,max = ηth,Carnot = 1- = 1- = 0.42 or 42%
TH 500
W 300
ηth,real = net = = 0.429 or 42.9%
QH 700
Since ηth,real > ηth,max , the claim is false!

E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering

 Carnot Refrigeration & Heat Pump Cycle
The Carnot heat engine cycle may
be reversed and the operation
becomes that of a Carnot
refrigeration or heat pump cycle.
The cycle is exactly the same,
except that the directions of the
processes, heat and work
interactions are reversed.

ab – Reversible adiabatic expansion

bc – Reversible isothermal heat addition
cd – Reversible adiabatic compression
da – Reversible isothermal cooling

E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering

 Refrigeration/Heat Pump System
Basic components (compressor,
condenser, expansion valve and
evaporator) of a refrigeration and heat
pump system and its typical operating
conditions are shown. Refrigerators
and heat pumps operate on the same
cycle but differ in their objectives
A refrigerator is used to maintain the
refrigerated space at a low
temperature by removing heat from it.
A heat pump is used to maintain a
heated space at a high temperature by
supplying heat to it

E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering

 Refrigerator
A refrigerator (R) removes
heat QL (the desired output)
from a space, at
temperature TL, to be
refrigerated and rejects heat
QH (a necessary part of the
operation) to a warm
environment at TH. This
transfer of heat is made
possible by doing work
Wnet,in on the refrigerator.

E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering

 Performance of a Refrigerator
The performance criterion of refrigerator is
coefficient of performance (COP) expressed as,
QL
COPR = ; Wnet,in = QH - QL
Wnet,in
1
= ; for reversible or irreversible cycles
QH
-1
QL
1
COPR,rev = ; for reversible cycles
TH
-1
TL
E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering
 Heat Pump
Refrigerator and heat pump is
the same device; they differ in
their desired output – QL for
refrigerator and QH for heat
pump.
If the refrigerator is used to
provide QH (the desired
output) to maintain a warm
heated space at TH, it is called
the heat pump.

E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering

 Performance of a Heat Pump
The performance criterion of heat pump is
coefficient of performance (COP) expressed as,
QH
COPHP = ; Wnet,in = QH - QL
Wnet,in
1
= ; for reversible or irreversible cycles
QL
1-
QH
1
COPHP,rev = ; for reversible cycles
TL
1-
TH
E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering
 Cooling by a Refrigerator
The food compartment of a refrigerator
is maintained at 4o C. If the required
power input to the refrigerator is 2 kW
QH=8 kW
and the heat rejection to the kitchen is
8 kW, calculate (a) the heat removed
Wnet,in from the food compartment and (b) the
=2 kW coefficient of performance of the
refrigerator.
QL=?
Q L = Q H - Wnet,in = 8 - 2 = 6 kW
QL 6
COPR = = =3
Wnet,in 2

E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering

 Heating by a Heat Pump
A heat pump is used to provide 7 kJ of
heat to warm a house maintained at
20oC. On the day when the outdoor
temperature is 4oC, the heat absorbed
from the cold outdoor air is 5 kJ.
Calculate (a) the power consumed by
the heat pump and (b) the coefficient of
performance

Wnet,in = Q H - Q L = 7 - 5 = 2 kJ
QH 7
COPH = = = 3.5
Wnet,in 2

E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering

 Irreversibility
Heat flow from warm Lemon Drink to
cold Ice; Lemon Drink becomes cold
and ice becomes warmer. Heat flow is
spontaneous. The process is possible

Heat flow from cold Ice to warm Lemon

Drink; ice becomes colder and Lemon
Drink becomes warmer. Reverse heat
flow does not happen spontaneously.
The process is impossible.

E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering

 Irreversibility and Entropy
A process cannot be reversible if either of the following
phenomena is present:
(a) Friction
(b) Heat transfer across a finite temperature difference.
Since at least one of these is always present in some degree,
no real process can be reversible. Irreversibility of a process is
expressed in terms of a thermodynamic property, entropy S.
For all reversible processes, entropy generation is zero and all
irreversible processes have a positive entropy generation. How
large the entropy generation is depends on how irreversible is
the process. Irreversibility can also be represented in terms of
an efficiency.

E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering

 Entropy & T‐s Diagram
When plotted on a T-s
diagram, irreversibility of a
process is the increase in
entropy, (s2–s1), of the process.
This increase in entropy can be
represented by the isentropic
efficiency of the process. The
figures on the left show a
compression process through a
compressor and an expansion
process through a turbine. Let
us consider the compression
process. If there were no
irreversibility, the compression
will follow the path 1-2s. If
there were irreversibility, the
compression will follow the
path 1-2a.

E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering

 T‐s Diagram & Isentropic Efficiency
Path 1-2s is the isentropic process in which
there is no irreversibility and therefore the
change in entropy is zero, that is, s1=s2. Path 1-
2a is the actual (real) process in which changes
in entropy occur. The increase in entropy is
(s2–s1).

This increase in entropy can be represented by

the isentropic efficiency , ηc, of the process
which is defined as the ratio of the isentropic
work input to the actual work input, that is,

Wisentropic & p ( T2s - T1 )

Ws (H2s - H1 ) mc
ηc = = = =
Wactual Wa (H2a - H1 ) mc
& p ( T2a - T1 )

E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering

 T‐s Diagram & Isentropic Efficiency (cont’d)
The figure on the left shows the expansion
process. Path 1-2s is the isentropic process in
which there is no irreversibility and therefore
the change in entropy is zero, that is, s1=s2.
Path 1-2a is the actual (real) process in which
changes in entropy occur. The increase in
entropy is (s2–s1).
This increase in entropy can be represented by
the isentropic efficiency , ηt, of the process
which is defined as the ratio of the actual work
output to the isentropic work output, that is,

Wactual & p ( T1 - T2a )

Wa (H1 - H2a ) mc
ηt = = = =
Wisentropic Ws (H1 - H2s ) mc& p ( T1 - T2s )

E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering

 T‐s Diagram & Isentropic Efficiency (cont’d)

Air enters a well-insulated compressor at

25oC and 101 kPa and exits at 300oC and
650 kPa. If the isentropic efficiency of the
compressor is 76%, calculate the exit
temperature if the process were isentropic.

Ws ( T2s - T1 )
ηc = = ⇒ T2s = η c ( T2a - T1 ) + T1
Wa ( T2a - T1 )
T2s = 0.76 ( 300 - 25 ) + 25 = 234 o C

E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering

 T‐s Diagram & Isentropic Efficiency (cont’d)

Air exits a turbine at 800 K and the turbine

produces 550 kJ/kg of work output. If the
isentropic efficiency of the turbine is 85%,
calculate the inlet temperature and the
isentropic work.

550
w a = c p ( T1 - T2a ) ⇒ T1 = + 800 = 1347.3 K
1.005
wa 550
ηt = ⇒ ws = = 647.06 kJ/kg
ws 0.85
E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering
 What have you learned?
1. Thermal reservoirs; heat source & sink, TL ,TH , QL & QH
2. Thermal efficiency of a power cycle, η th,cycle
3. Refrigerator, heat pump and
coefficients of performance; COPR and COPHE
4. Carnot cycle efficiency, ηCarnot and
coefficients of performance; COPR,Carnot COPHP,Carnot
5. The Second Law of Thermodynamics
6. Irreversibility, entropy and T - s diagram

E233 Thermofluid, School of Engineering