CHAPTER 10: VAPOR AND COMBINED POWER CYCLES

INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, we consider vapor power cycles in which the working fluid is alternatively vaporized and condensed. Steam is the most common working fluid used in vapor power cycles because of its many desirable characteristics, such as low cost, availability, and high enthalpy of vaporization. Steam power plants are commonly referred to as coal plants, nuclear plants, or natural gas plants, depending on the type of fuel used to supply heat to the steam.

10-1 THE CARNOT VAPOR CYCLE

The Carnot cycle is the most efficient cycle operating between two specified temperature limits. Consider a steady-flow Carnot cycle e ecuted within the saturation dome of a pure substance. The cycle consists of the following processes !see "ig. #$-#a%& #-' '-) )-* *-# (eversible and isothermal heat addition in a boiler Isentropic e pansion in a turbine (eversible and isothermal heat re+ection in a condenser Isentropic compression in a compressor

The cycle given above cannot be realized in practice due to the following reasons& #. The heat addition cannot be accomplished isothermally unless the working fluid temperature is limited to Tsat !and this will limit the thermal efficiency%. '. The isentropic e pansion in the turbine will result in steam with high moisture content. The li,uid will cause erosion and wear of the turbine blades. ). The isentropic compression process involves the compression of a li,uid-vapor mi ture. It is not possible to design a compressor that handles two phases.

10-2 RANKINE CYCLE: THE IDEAL CYCLE FOR VAPOR POWER CYCLES
-any of the impracticalities associated with the Carnot cycle can be eliminated by superheating the steam in the boiler and condensing it completely in the condenser. The cycle that results is the Rankin !"!# , which is the ideal cycle for vapor power plants.

 The four processes of the ideal (ankine cycle !see "ig. #$-'% are& #-' '-) )-* *-# Isentropic compression in a pump Constant pressure heat addition in a boiler Isentropic e pansion in a turbine Constant pressure heat re+ection in a condenser

!See full description on page ./0.% En $%" Ana#"&i& '( )* I+ a# Rankin C"!# 1ll four components of the (ankine cycle are steady-flow devices and thus can be analyzed with steady-flow energy e,uation. 1ssuming 234 and 254 are negligible, the conservation of energy e,uation for each device can be e pressed as follows& 5ump !, 6 $%& or
w pump , in = v ( P' P# )
w pump , in = h' h#

where
h# = h f
7 P#

and

v v# = v f

7 P#

8oiler !w 6 $%& Turbine !, 6 $%& Condenser !w 6 $%&

q in = h ) h '
wturb , out = h) h*

q out = h * h#

The thermal efficiency of the (ankine cycle is determined from

th =
w net q in =# q out q in

10-, DEVIATION OF ACTUAL VAPOR POWER CYCLES FROM IDEALI-ED ONES

The actual vapor power cycle differs from the ideal (ankine cycle due to irreversibilities in various components !see "ig. #$-*%. The sources of irreversibilities are& o "luid friction& causes pressure drops in the boiler, the condenser, and the piping between various components. o 9eat loss from the steam to the surroundings& -ore heat needs to be transferred to the steam in the boiler to compensate for the undesired heat losses.

 The operations of the pump and turbine deviate from being isentropic. The deviations are accounted for by utilizing isentropic efficiencies, defined as

P =
and

ws h h# = 's wa h' a h# wa h h* a = ) ws h) h* s

T =

10-. HOW CAN WE INCREASE THE EFFICIENCY OF THE RANKINE CYCLE/

The thermal efficiency of the (ankine cycle can be increased either by increasing the average temperature at which heat is transferred to the working fluid in the boiler or by decreasing the average temperature at which heat is re+ected from the working fluid in the condenser. The three ways of accomplishing this are& :owering the condenser pressure Superheating the steam to high temperatures Increasing the boiler pressure !Check pages ./$-./' of the te tbook for details.%

10-0 THE IDEAL REHEAT RANKINE CYCLE

;hen the boiler pressure is increased in order to raise the cycle efficiency, it brings the problem of e cessive moisture at the final stages of the turbine. To overcome the problem, the steam is e panded in two stages and reheated in between, i.e. the ideal (ankine cycle is modified with a $ * a) process !see "ig. #$-##%. The ideal reheat (ankine cycle differs from the simple ideal (ankine cycle in the e pansion process. Instead of a single e pansion process, the following processes take place& o Steam is e panded isentropically to an intermediate pressure !in the first-stage, or high pressure, turbine%. o Steam is reheated at constant pressure in the boiler, usually to the inlet temperature of the first stage turbine.

o Steam is e panded in the second stage !low-pressure% turbine to the condenser pressure. The total heat input and the total turbine work output for a reheat cycle become !see "ig. #$-## for numbering%
q in = q
primary

+ q reheat = ( h ) h' ) + ( h . h * )

and

w turb , out = w turb , I + w turb , II = (h ) h* ) + (h . h / )

The incorporation of the single reheat in a modern power plant improves the cycle efficiency by * to . < 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 e pansion and reheat stages. 1s the number is increased, the processes approach an isothermal process at the ma imum temperature !see "ig. #$-#'%. 9owever, this is not practical and only one reheat process is used in modern power plants.

10-1 THE IDEAL RE2ENERATIVE RANKINE CYCLE

It is desirable to increase the average temperature at which heat is transferred to the working fluid in the boiler by raising the temperature of the li,uid leaving the pump before it enters the boiler. The li,uid leaving the pump is called the feedwater. This is achieved by $ % n $a)i'n. 1 practical regeneration process in steam power plants is accomplished by e tracting, or =bleeding>, steam from the turbine at various points. This steam, which could have produced more work by e panding further in the turbine, is used to heat the feedwater instead. The device where the feedwater is heated by regeneration is called a $ % n $a)'$, or a ( +3a) $ * a) $ 4FWH5. 1dvantages of regeneration& o It improves the cycle efficiency. o It provides a convenient means of deaerating the feedwater to prevent corrosion in the boiler. o It helps control the large volume flow rate of the steam in the final stages of the turbine. 1 feedwater heater is basically a heat e changer where heat is transferred from the steam to the feedwater. There are two types of feedwater heaters& open type and closed type.

O6 n F +3a) $ H a) $& 1n open !or direct-contact% feedwater heater is basically a mi ing chamber, where the steam e tracted from the turbine mi es with the feedwater e iting the pump. The schematic of a steam power plant with one open feedwater heater and the T-s diagram of the cycle are shown in "ig. #$-#.. Consider # kg of steam flowing through the boiler, the following processes take place !refer to "ig. #$-#.%& Steam enters the turbine at the boiler pressure !state .% and e pands isentropically to an intermediate pressure !state /%. 1 fraction of the steam !y kg% is e tracted at state / and routed to the feedwater heater. The rest !#-y% kg continues to e pand isentropically to the condenser pressure !state ?%. The steam at state ? enters the condenser and leaves as saturated li,uid at the condenser pressure !state #%. The condensed water !i.e. feedwater% enters an isentropic pump and it is compressed to the feedwater heater pressure !state '% and is then routed to the feedwater heater. It then mi es with the steam e tracted from the turbine. The mi ture leaves as saturated li,uid at the heater pressure !state )%. 1 second pump raises the pressure of the water to the boiler pressure !state *%. The water is heated in the boiler to the turbine inlet state !state .%. The work and heat interactions can be e pressed as follows&
q in = h . h *

q out = (# y )(h ? h # ) w turb , out = (h . h / ) + (# y )(h / h ? )

w pump , in = (# y ) w pump I , in + w pump II , in

where
/ @m . y =m

!fraction of steam e tracted%

w pump I , in = v # ( P' P #) w pump II , in = v ) ( P* P) )

The cycle efficiency increases further as the number of feedwater heaters is increased. -any large plants in operation today use as many as eight feedwater heaters.

C#'& + F +3a) $ H a) $& 9ere, heat is transferred from the e tracted steam to the feedwater without any mi ing taking place. The two streams can be at different pressures, since they do not mi . The schematic of a steam power plant with one closed feedwater heater and the T-s diagram of the cycle are shown in "ig. #$-#/. o The feedwater leaves the heater below the e it temperature of the e tracted steam. o The condensed steam is then either pumped to the feedwater line or routed to another heater or to the condenser through a device called a )$a6. 1 trap allows the li,uid to be throttled to a lower pressure but traps the vapor. The enthalpy of steam remains constant during this throttling process. The open and closed feedwater heaters can be compared as follows& O6 n ( +3a) $ * a) $& Simple and ine pensive Aood heat transfer characteristics "or each heater, a pump is re,uired. C#'& + ( +3a) $ * a) $& -ore comple and more e pensive 9eat transfer is less effective because the two streams are not in direct contact. Bo not re,uire a separate pump for each heater.

-ost steam power plants use a combination of open and closed feedwater heaters, as shown in "ig. #$-#?.

10-7 SECOND-LAW ANALYSIS OF VAPOR POWER CYCLES

The analysis is the same as the one discussed in section C-#'.

10-8 CO2ENERATION
-any systems or devices re,uire energy input in the form of heat, called process heat. 4 amples can be found in the chemical, pulp and paper, oil production and refining, steel making, food processing, and te tile industries. Industries that use large amount of process heat also consume a large amount of electric power. Therefore, it is better to combine the two operations in a plant, called a

cogeneration plant. In general, !'% n $a)i'n is the production of more than one useful form of energy !such as process heat and electric power% from the same energy source. 4ither a steam-turbine !(ankine% cycle or a gas-turbine !8rayton% cycle or even a combined cycle can be used as the power cycle in a cogeneration plant. The schematic of an ideal steam-turbine cogeneration plant is shown in "ig. #$-'#. Dote that there is no condenser in this plant. Thus no heat is re+ected from this plant as waste heat. Befine a 9)i#i:a)i'n (a!)'$ ;9 for a cogeneration plant as
u =
W Det work output + 5rocess heat delivered net + Q P = Total heat input Q in

or
u = #
Q out Q
in

where Q 6 heat re+ected in the condenser E heat losses from the piping and other out components E losses due to incomplete combustion and stack losses.

"or the ideal steam-turbine cogeneration plant, Fu 6 #$$<. The ideal steam-turbine cogeneration plant described above is not practical because it cannot ad+ust to the variations in power and process-heat loads. The schematic of a more practical cogeneration plant is shown in "ig. #$-''. The various operational modes of the plant are& o Dormal operation& Some steam is e tracted from the turbine at an intermediate pressure 5/, the rest e pands to condenser pressure 5?. The heat re+ected from the condenser represents the waste heat for the cycle. o 9igh demand for process heat& 1ll steam is routed to the process-heating unit and none to the condenser !m? 6 $%, therefore no waste heat. If it is not sufficient some steam leaving the boiler is throttled by an e pansion or pressure-reducing valve !5(G% to the e traction pressure 5/ and directed to the process-heating unit. o -a imum process heating& 1ll steam leaving the boiler passes through the 5(G !m . 6 m*%. Do power is produced. o Do demand for process heat& 1ll steam passes through the turbine and the condenser !m. 6 m/ 6 $% and the cogeneration plant operates as an ordinary steam power plant. The rates of heat and work interactions can be e pressed as follows&
=m ) (h * h ) ) Q in Q out = m ? (h ? h # )
Q P = m . h. + m / h/ m0 h0

W turb = (m * m . )(h * h / ) + m ? (h / h ? )

10-< COMBINED 2AS-VAPOR POWER CYCLES

1nother modification that can be used to improve the efficiency of power plants involves a gas power cycle topping a vapor power cycle, which is called the !'=>in + %a&-?a6'$ !"!# , or +ust the !'=>in + !"!# . Aas-turbine cycles typically operate at considerably higher temperatures than steam cycles. The high-temperature e haust gases can be used as the energy source for the bottoming cycle such as a steam power cycle as shown in "ig. #$-'*. In general, more than one gas turbine is needed to supply sufficient heat to the steam. 1lso, the steam cycle may involve regeneration as well as reheating.