Vapor Power

Cycles

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 Content
Chapter 1 Vapor Power Cycles

1.1. The Carnot Cycle

1.2. The Rankine Cycle

1.3. Deviation of Actual Vapor Power Cycles from Idealized

Ones

1.4. The Ideal Reheat Rankine Cycle

1.5. The Ideal Regenerative Rankine Cycle

1.6. Types of Feed-Water Heaters

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 POWER PLANT CYCLE ANALYSIS
 Steam power plants are the major sources of power generation.

• Fossil Fuels( Coal, • Shaft Work

Energy Natural Gas, Oil) (Expansion,
Steam Turbine) Energy Electricity
Stored • Fissile Fuels
(Uranium, Thorium) • Other

Combustion Chamber Boiler steam turbine Condenser

• Chemical Energy to • Thermal Energy • Expansion(low

Heat Energy • water to Steam (high Pressure)
• condensed into
pressure & • Shaft Work
water
temperature)

෍ 𝑸𝑵𝒆𝒕 = ෍ 𝑾𝑵𝒆𝒕
ර 𝒅𝑬 = 𝟎 𝑪𝒚𝒄𝒍𝒊𝒄 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔
𝑪𝒚𝒄𝒍𝒊𝒄 𝑪𝒚𝒄𝒍𝒊𝒄
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 POWER PLANT CYCLE ANALYSIS
standard steam power plant cycles
1

 The considered in this chapter include:

 Rankine cycle
 Reheat cycle
 Regenerative cycle
 Regenerative-Reheat cycle
 Binary vapor cycle
 Terms like
 Thermal efficiency (ƞthe) ,
 Work ratio (WR),
 Specific steam consumption (SSC), and
 Heat rate (HR)
• Nuclear energy has enlarged the world’s power resources,
The energy released by 1kg of uranium ≈4500 kg of high grade coal.

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 POWER PLANT CYCLE ANALYSIS
. Process
1

Irreversible
Reversible Real Processes
Ideal Cycle Sources of
Models of Real processes a. Friction
Reversed without leaving any trace on either Mechanical work dissipate into heating effect, ex. Shaft
system or surroundings rotating in a bearing
A. They are easy to analyze (since system passes Fluid friction- turbine undergoes internal friction-does
through a series of equilibrium states) less work and high temperature (enthalpy).
B. They serve as limits (idealized models) to b. Heat Transfer
which the actual processes can be compared. c. Throttling- uncontrolled expansion and compression
1. Very slowly ex. Leakage from a steam pipe or the flow through a
2. Without any resisting force valve
3. Without any space limitation d. Mixing- they cannot without external aid.
everything happens in a highly organized way (it 1. External- across the boundaries of the system-source
is not physically possible -it is an idealization (Heat Transfer and mechanical friction) ex. Turbine,
compressors, pumps, and generators
2. Internal- with in the boundary- source ( fluid friction)
ex. Turbine, compressors, and pumps.
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 Fossil Fueled vapor power plant

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 Pressurized Water reactor nuclear vapor power plant

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 Concentrating Solar Thermal Vapor Power Plant

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 Geothermal Power Plant

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 POWER PLANT CYCLE ANALYSIS
The Rankine Cycle
 The steam power cycle, it is possible to assume a hypothetical or ideal
process and
 Does not produce any extraneous effect (like heat loss and pressure loss).
 When all these four processes are ideal, the cycle is an ideal cycle (a cycle
without internal irreversibilities), called a Rankine cycle.

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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 POWER PLANT CYCLE ANALYSIS
The Rankine Cycle 0  Q pump  WPump  m(h1  h 2  KE  PE)
Typical assumptions
1. Steady flow in all components
2. Steady state in all components
3. Usually ignore kinetic and potential energy changes in all
components
4. Pressure losses are considered negligible in boiler and
condenser
5. Power components are isentropic for ideal cycle

Pump Boiler Turbine Condenser

• Adiabatic • No work done • Adiabatic • No work done
• Reversible • Heat Exchanger • Heat Exchanger
2
WP = න vdP = h2 − h1 0  Q pump + m(h 2  h 3 )
1

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 Energy Analysis of the Rankine Cycle
 Rankine cycle can be analyzed as steady-flow processes.
 Neglecting changes in kinetic and potential energies.
 The steady-flow energy equation per unit mass of steam

(qin  qout )  (win  wout )  he  hi

 The conservation of energy relation for each device can be expressed as
follows:
Pump(q  0) : w pump,in  h2  h1
w pump,in  v( P2  P1 )
where h1  h f @ P1 and v  v1  v f @ P1

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 Energy Analysis of the Rankine Cycle
Boiler ( w  0) : qin  h3  h2
Turbine (q  0) : wturb,out  h3  h4
Condenser ( w  0) : qout  h4  h1

The thermal efficiency (ƞth) of the Rankine cycle is then given by:

The mean temperature Tm at which heat is supplied to the working

substance is given by:

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 Energy Analysis of the Rankine Cycle
 The specific steam consumption (SSC) are indicators used in the
comparison of the performance of various vapor-power cycles.
 Work ratio is defined as:

 The capacity of a steam power plant is often expressed in terms of

steam rate (SR) or specific steam consumption (SSC)(the rate of
steam flow [kg/h) required to produce a unit shaft work [kW]).

 The cycle efficiency is sometimes expressed alternatively as heat rate (HR)

(the rate of heat input [kJ/s] required to produce a unit shaft output [kW]).

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 Rankine Cycle with Superheat
 As the superheat temperature increases,
the mean temperature at which heat is
supplied also increases. the thermal
efficiency of the cycle increases.
 Increases the net work, the specific
steam consumption reduces with rise of
superheat temperature.
 The maximum possible superheat
temperature is, however, limited by the
capacity of the material to withstand the
temperature.

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 Rankine Cycle with Condenser Pressure
• There is a limit, however, to the
minimum pressure in the
condenser.
• The lowest condenser pressure
that can be reached ideally will be
the saturation pressure
corresponding to the lowest
available temperature of cooling
water.

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 Internally Irreversible Rankine Cycle
• In the analysis of vapor-power cycles,
– the pressure drop due to fluid flow is usually
neglected
– the deviation of the compression process in
the pump and the expansion process in the
steam-turbine from the reversible adiabatic.
• Actual compression of water in the
pump and similarly actual expansion of
steam in the turbine are irreversible
processes causing increase in entropy.

The isentropic efficiency of compression and expansion is given by:

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 Internally Irreversible Rankine Cycle
 Water fed to the boiler is converted to
steam at its exit, receiving thermal
energy from the burning fuel.
 The efficiency of a boiler ƞboiler is the
ratio of the quantity of heat received by
steam to the energy released by the
combustion of the fuel.

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 Example
• Steam at 50 bar and 500 °C flowing at the rate of 5000 kg/h expands
in a steam turbine to a condenser pressure of 10 kPa with an
isentropic efficiency of 85%, Determine:
(a) the net power output
(b) the thermal efficiency of the cycle

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 Example
• The steam power plant in Example 1 is modified to take in a continuous supply of steam
from a geothermal energy source at 2 bar, 90% quality and a flow rate of 2500 kg/h. The
superheated steam leaving the boiler expands in a high pressure (HPJ turbine to 2 bar
with an isentropic efficiency of 85% and mixes adiabatically with the steam from the
geothermal source as shown in Fig.. The mixed steam then expands, with an isentropic
efficiency of 85%, in a low pressure (LP) turbine to the condenser pressure of 0.1
bar. Determine:
a. the net power output,
b. the thermal efficiency of the cycle based on fuel consumption
c. c) the overall thermal efficiency of the plant.

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 The Ideal Reheat Rankine Cycle
 In the ideal Rankine cycle,
 superheating the steam raises the average temperature at which heat is
supplied to the cycle, thus
Raising the thermal efficiency.
 An equivalent gain in the average temperature during the heat input
process may be accomplished by raising the boiler pressure.
 For a given maximum cycle temperature, an increase in the boiler
pressure results in a decrease in the quality of the steam leaving the
turbine.
 To avoid the erosion problem and still take advantage of the higher
temperatures made available by increasing the boiler pressure, the
Reheat cycle has been developed.
 Reheating is necessarily practiced in high pressure plants.

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 The Ideal Reheat Rankine Cycle

 The cost of extra pipes and controls that make Reheat cycle more
expensive than the Rankine cycle are limitations of this cycle.

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 The Ideal Reheat Rankine Cycle
Example
Superheated steam leaves the boiler of a reheat cycle at 5 MPa and 500
°C. Steam is withdrawn from the first stage turbine at a pressure of 0.2
MPa and reheated to 350 °C and finally expanded to the condenser
pressure of 10 kPa. If the isentropic efficiency of both the HP and
LP turbines is 85%, determine:
a) the work ratio,
b) the specific steam consumption,
c) the thermal efficiency, and
d) the heat rate of the cycle.

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 The Ideal Reheat Rankine Cycle
 The intermediate pressure at
which steam is reheated affects
the cycle efficiency.
 A reheat pressure too close to the
initial pressure results in little
improvement in the thermal
efficiency of the cycle because only
a small quantity of heat (as reheat)
is added at high temperature.
 The thermal efficiency improves as
the reheat pressure is lowered and
reaches a peak at a pressure ratio of
about 0.1.
 The thermal efficiency of the plant
also improves as the reheat
pressure is lowered. However,
lowering the reheat pressure further
causes the efficiency to decrease
again

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 The Ideal Reheat Rankine Cycle
 The quality of steam leaving the
low-pressure turbine, as a
function of pressure ratio.
 Too low pressure ratio may even
result in superheated exhaust
steam, an unfavorable situation
for condenser operation.
 For any particular reheat cycle,
there exists an intermediate
pressure at which the maximum
thermal efficiency of the cycle
and minimum specific steam
consumption are acquired.

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The Ideal Regenerative Rankine Cycle
 To increase the mean temperature at which heat is supplied and reduce the
external thermal irreversibility, attention was so far confined to increasing the
amount of heat supplied at high temperatures, such as
 increasing superheat,
 higher pressure and temperature of steam
 reheat.
 The mean temperature at which heat is supplied can also be increased by
reducing the amount of heat added at low temperatures, i.e., in the liquid phase
of the steam generation process.
 In the regenerative cycle, the mean temperature at which heat is added is
increased by raising the temperature of the feed-water entering the boiler.

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The Ideal Regenerative Rankine Cycle

 The thermal efficiency of the regenerative cycle is then given by:

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The Ideal Regenerative Rankine Cycle
 The efficiency increases 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.
 The use of an additional feedwater is justified if it saves more from the fuel
costs than its own cost.

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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.
 Ideally, the mixture leaves the
heater as a saturated liquid at
the heater pressure.

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 Closed Feedwater Heaters
 Heat is transferred from the extracted  In actual power plants, the
steam to the feedwater without any feedwater leaves the heater
mixing taking place. below the exit temperature of the
 The two streams can be at different extracted steam because a
pressures, since they do not mix. temperature difference of at least
 In an ideal closed feedwater heater, the a few degrees is required for any
feedwater is heated to the exit effective heat transfer to take
temperature of the extracted steam( place.
which ideally leaves the heater as a
saturated liquid at the extraction
pressure.)

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 Closed Feedwater Heaters

Most steam power plants use a combination of open and closed feedwater Heaters

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 An Ideal Cogeneration Plant
 The production of more than one useful
form of energy (such as process heat and
electric power) from the same energy source
is called cogeneration.

 Cogeneration plants produce electric power

while meeting the process heat requirements
of certain industrial processes. This way,
more of the energy transferred to the fluid in
the boiler is utilized for a useful purpose.

 The fraction of energy that is used for either

process heat or power generation is called
the utilization factor of the cogeneration
plant.

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 More Ways to Increase Power plant Thermal Efficiency
 The overall thermal efficiency of a power
plant can be increased by using binary cycles
or combined cycles.
 A binary cycle is composed of two separate
cycles, one at high temperatures (topping
cycle) and the other at relatively low
temperatures.
 The most common combined cycle is the gas-
steam combined cycle where a gas-turbine
cycle operates at the high-temperature range
and a steam-turbine cycle at the low-
temperature range.
 Steam is heated by the high-temperature
exhaust gases leaving the gas turbine.
 Combined cycles have a higher thermal
efficiency than the steam- or gas-turbine
cycles operating alone.

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 Combined Gas-Steam Power Plant

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 Example
Consider an ideal steam regenerative Rankine cycle with two feed water heaters, one
closed and one open. Steam enters the turbine at 12.5 MPa and 550 0C and exhausts
to the condenser at 10 kPa. Steam is extracted from the turbine at 0.8 MPa for the
closed feed water heater and at 0.3 MPa for the open one. The feed water heater is
heated to the condensation temperature of the extracted steam in the closed feed water
heater. The extracted steam leaves the closed feed water heater as a saturated liquid,
which is subsequently throttled to the open feed water heater.
(a) Show the cycle on a T-s diagram with respect to saturation lines,
(b) the mass flow rate of steam through the boiler for a net power output of 250
MW,
(c) the thermal efficiency of the cycle.

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