Thermodynamics & Heat

Engines

Prof. Dr. Hamada Mohamed Abdelmotalib

Mechanical Power & EnergyEngineering Dep.
Faculty of Engineering, Minia University
Course Syllabus

1. Introduction and basic concepts

2. Properties of pure substance
3. First law of thermodynamics
4. Second law of thermodynamics
5. Thermal Power Plants
6. Rankine Cycle
7. Gas turbines
8. Modification of gas turbine
9. Short Notes on Internal Heat Engines

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The ideal Rankine cycle
The Rankine cycle, is the ideal cycle for vapor power plants. It does not involve
any internal irreversibilities and consists of the following four processes:
1-2 Isentropic compression in a pump
2-3 Constant pressure heat addition in a boiler
3-4 Isentropic expansion in a turbine
4-1 Constant pressure heat rejection in a condenser

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• The boiler is basically a large heat exchanger where the heat originating from
combustion gases, nuclear reactors, or other sources is transferred to the
water essentially at constant pressure. The boiler, together with the section
where the steam is superheated (the superheater), is often called the steam
generator.
• In areas where water is precious, the power plants are cooled by air instead of
water. This method of cooling, which is also used in car engines, is called dry
cooling.
Energy Analysis of the Ideal Rankine Cycle
The Rankine cycle can be analyzed as steady-flow processes. The kinetic and
potential energy changes of the steam are usually small relative to the work and
heat transfer terms and are therefore usually neglected. Then the steady-flow
energy equation per unit mass of steam reduces to

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Deviation of actual cycle from idealized cycle
• The actual vapor power cycle differs from the ideal Rankine cycle as a result
of irreversibilities in various components.
• Fluid friction and heat loss to the surroundings are the two common sources
of irreversibilities.
• Fluid friction causes pressure drops in the boiler, the condenser, and the
piping between various components. As a result, steam leaves the boiler at a
somewhat lower pressure. Also, the pressure at the turbine inlet is somewhat
lower than that at the boiler exit due to the pressure drop in the connecting
pipes. The pressure drop in the condenser is usually very small. To
compensate for these pressure drops, the water must be pumped to a
sufficiently higher pressure than the ideal cycle calls for. This requires a
larger pump and larger work input to the pump.

• The other major source of irreversibility is the heat loss from the steam to the
surroundings as the steam flows through various components. To maintain
the same level of net work output, more heat needs to be transferred to the
steam in the boiler to compensate for these undesired heat losses. As a
result, cycle efficiency decreases.
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Of particular importance are the irreversibilities occurring within the pump and
the turbine. A pump requires a greater work input, and a turbine produces a
smaller work output as a result of irreversibilities. Under ideal conditions, the
flow through these devices is isentropic. The deviation of actual pumps and
turbines from the isentropic ones can be accounted for by utilizing isentropic
efficiencies, defined as

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How to increase the Rankine cycle efficiency
 Small increases in thermal efficiency can mean large savings from the fuel
requirements.
 The basic idea behind all the modifications to increase the thermal efficiency
of a power cycle is the same: Increase the average temperature at which heat
is transferred to the working fluid in the boiler, or decrease the average
temperature at which heat is rejected from the working fluid in the condenser.
 There are three ways of accomplishing this for the simple ideal Rankine
cycle.
1. Lowering the Condenser Pressure (Lowers Tlow,avg)
Steam exists as a saturated mixture in the
condenser at the saturation temperature
corresponding to the pressure inside the
condenser. Therefore, lowering the operating
pressure of the condenser automatically lowers
the temperature of the steam, and thus the
temperature at which heat is rejected.
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For comparison purposes, the turbine inlet state is maintained the same. The
colored area on this diagram represents the increase in net work output as a
result of lowering the condenser pressure from P4 to P4/. The heat input
requirements also increase (represented by the area under curve 2/-2), but this
increase is very small. Thus the overall effect of lowering the condenser
pressure is an increase in the thermal efficiency of the cycle
It cannot be lower than the saturation pressure corresponding to the temperature
of the cooling medium. Consider, for example, a condenser that is to be cooled
by a nearby river at 15°C. Allowing a temperature difference of 10°C for
effective heat transfer, the steam temperature in the condenser must be above
25°C; thus the condenser pressure must be above 3.2 kPa, which is the
saturation pressure at 25°C.

Lowering the condenser pressure is not without any side effects, however. For
one thing, it creates the possibility of air leakage into the condenser.

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2. Superheating the Steam to High Temperatures (Increases Thigh,avg)
 The average temperature at which heat is
transferred to steam can be increased without
increasing the boiler pressure by superheating the
steam to high temperatures.
 The colored area on this diagram represents the
increase in the net work. The total area under the
process curve 3-3/represents the increase in the
heat input. Thus both the net work and heat input
increase as a result of superheating the steam to a
higher temperature. The overall effect is an
increase in thermal efficiency. .
 The temperature to which steam can be superheated is limited, however, by
metallurgical considerations. Presently the highest steam temperature
allowed at the turbine inlet is about 620°C (1150°F). Any increase in this
value depends on improving the present materials or finding new ones that
can withstand higher temperatures. Ceramics are very promising in this
regard.
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 3. Increasing the Boiler Pressure (Increases Thigh,avg)
 Another way of increasing the average
temperature during the heat-addition process
is to increase the operating pressure of the
boiler, which automatically raises the
temperature at which boiling takes place.
This, in turn, raises the average temperature
at which heat is transferred to the steam and
thus raises the thermal efficiency of the
cycle.
 Operating pressures of boilers have gradually increased over the years from
about 2.7 MPa (400 psia) in 1922 to over 30 MPa (4500 psia) today,
generating enough steam to produce a net power output of 1000 MW or more
in a large power plant.
 Today many modern steam power plants operate at supercritical pressures (P
> 22.06 MPa) and have thermal efficiencies of about 40 percent for fossil-fuel
plants and 34 percent for nuclear plants.

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 The ideal reheat Rankine cycle
Increasing the boiler pressure increases the thermal efficiency of the Rankine
cycle, but it also increases the moisture content of the steam to unacceptable
levels. It can solve this problem using one of two possibilities:
1. Superheat the steam to very high temperatures before it enters the turbine .
2. Expand the steam in the turbine in two stages, and reheat it in between.
Reheating is a practical solution to the excessive moisture problem in turbines,
and it is commonly used in modern steam power plants. .
The expansion process takes place in two stages. In the first stage (the high
pressure turbine), steam is expanded isentropically to an intermediate pressure
and sent back to the boiler where it is reheated at constant pressure, usually to
the inlet temperature of the first turbine stage. Steam then expands isentropically
in the second stage (low-pressure turbine) to the condenser pressure.

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Thus the total heat input and the total turbine work output for a reheat cycle
become

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Dr. Eng. Hamada M. Abdelmotalib
 The incorporation of the single reheat in a modern power plant improves the
cycle efficiency by 4 to 5 percent by increasing the average temperature at
which heat is transferred to the steam.
 The average temperature during the reheat process can be increased by
increasing the number of expansion and reheat stages. As the number of
stages is increased, the expansion and reheat processes approach an
isothermal process at the maximum temperature.
 The use of more than two reheat stages, however, is not
practical.
 If the turbine inlet pressure is not high enough, double reheat would
result in superheated exhaust. This is undesirable because the
average temperature for heat rejection to increase and thus the cycle
efficiency to decrease. Therefore, double reheat is used only on
supercritical-pressure (P>22.06 MPa) power plants.
 The reheat temperatures are very close or equal to the turbine inlet
temperature. The optimum reheat pressure is about one-fourth of the
maximum cycle pressure. For example, the optimum reheat pressure for a
cycle with a boiler pressure of 12 MPa is about 3 MPa.
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The ideal regeneration Rankine cycle
 Increasing temperature of the liquid leaving the pump before it enters the
boiler using feedwater results in increasing temperature of heat addition and
then increasing cycle efficiency.
 A practical regeneration process in steam power plants is accomplished by
extracting, or “bleeding,” steam from the turbine at various points. This
steam is used to heat the feedwater. The device where the feedwater is heated
by regeneration is called a regenerator, or a feedwater heater (FWH)
 A feedwater heater is basically a heat exchanger where heat is transferred
from the steam to the feedwater either by mixing the two fluid streams (open
feedwater heaters) or without mixing them (closed feedwater heaters).

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Open Feedwater Heaters
• An open (or direct-contact) feedwater heater is basically a mixing chamber,
where the steam extracted from the turbine mixes with the feedwater exiting
the pump.
• The cycle efficiency increases further as the number of feedwater heaters is
increased. Many large plants in operation today use as many as eight
feedwater heaters. The optimum number of feedwater heaters is determined
from economical considerations.

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Closed Feedwater Heaters
Another type of feedwater heater frequently used in steam power plants is the
closed feedwater heater, in which heat is transferred from the extracted steam to
the feedwater without any mixing taking place. The two streams now can be at
different pressures, since they do not mix.

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The open and closed feedwater heaters can be compared as follows.
 Open feedwater heaters are simple and inexpensive and have good heat
transfer characteristics. They also bring the feedwater to the saturation state.
For each heater, however, a pump is required to handle the feedwater.
 The closed feedwater heaters are more complex because of the internal tubing
network, and thus they are more expensive. Heat transfer in closed feedwater
heaters is also less effective since the two streams are not allowed to be in
direct contact. However, closed feedwater heaters do not require a separate
pump for each heater since the extracted steam and the feedwater can be at
different pressures.
 Most steam power plants use a combination of open and closed feedwater
heaters

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References

Book: Thermodynamics, An Engineering Approach

5th Edition, Yunus A. Cengel, Michael A. Boles
Chapter 10

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