TE 223-Lec 9 (Vapor Power Cycles)

TE 223: Mechanical Engineering
Dr. Md. Shahnewaz Bhuiyan

Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering
Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology
Lecture notes on
Vapor power cycle
Dr. Md. Shahnewaz Bhuiyan Dept. TE, ISU TE 223: Mechanical Engineering 1
Introduction
Heat engines:
 They receive heat from a high temperature source (solar energy, oil,
furnace, nuclear reactor etc.)
 They convert part of this heat to work (usually in the form of a rotating
shaft)
 They reject the remaining waste heat to a low temperate sink (the
atmosphere, rivers etc)
 They operate on a cycle
Heat engines usually involve a fluid to and from which heat is transferred while
undergoing a cycle. This fluid is called the working fluid.
Source: A reservoir that supplies energy in the form of heat

Sink: A reservoir that absorbs energy in the form of heat
Dr. Md. Shahnewaz Bhuiyan (AUST) Dept. TE, ISU TE 223: Mechanical Engineering 2
Vapor power cycle
 In a power cycle, the working fluid repeatedly performs a succession of
processes. If the working fluid is alternatively vaporized and condensed,
then the cycle is termed as vapor power cycle.
Carnot vapor cycle
Process 1-2: Isothermal expansion

Process 2-3: Reversible adiabatic expansion
Process 3-4: Isothermal compression
Process 4-1: Reversible adiabatic compression
Limitations of Carnot vapor cycle
Rankine cycle
Rankine cycle is the theoretical cycle on which the steam turbine (or engine)
works.
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
Rankine cycle
Process 1-2
Water enters the pump at state 1 as saturated liquid and is compressed

isentropically to the operating pressure of the boiler.
The water pressure increases somewhat during this isentropic compression
process due to a slight decrease in the specific volume of water.
The vertical distance between states 1 and 2 on the T-s diagram is greatly
exaggerated for clarity.
Rankine cycle
Process 2-3
Water enters the boiler as a compressed liquid at state 2 and leaves as a

superheated vapor at state 3. 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 is often called the
steam generator.
Rankine cycle
The superheated vapor at state 3 enters the turbine, where it expands
isentropically and produces work by rotating the shaft connected to an
electric generator. The pressure and the temperature of steam drop
during this process to the values at state 4, where steam enters the
condenser. At this state, steam is usually a saturated liquid-vapor
mixture with a high quality. Steam is condensed at constant pressure in
the condenser, which is basically a large heat exchanger, by rejecting
heat to a cooling medium such as a lake, a river or the atmosphere.
Steam leaves the condenser as saturated liquid and enters the pump,
completing the cycle.
Difference between Rankine and Carnot Cycle
 In Rankine cycle, a pump is used to pressurize the vapor, whereas
in the Carnot cycle, the wet vapor is compressed using a
compressor. Thus, work of compression in Carnot cycle is much
larger than the Rankine cycle.
 In Rankine cycle, only a part of heat is supplied isothermally at
constant higher temperature. In Carnot cycle, all the heat is
supplied isothermally. Thus the efficiency of Rankine cycle is lower
than that of a Carnot cycle, working between the same maximum
and minimum temperatures.
 In Rankine cycle, steam is completely condensed during heat
rejection. In Carnot cycle, the steam is still wet at the end of heat
rejection.
 In Rankine cycle, superheating of steam is permissible. The Carnot
cycle does not permit superheating.
Deviation of actual vapor power cycles from idealized ones
• Fluid friction causes pressure drop in the boiler, the condenser and
the piping between various components. As a result, steam leaves
the boiler at a low pressure. Also the pressure at the turbine inlet is
somewhat lower than that at a the boiler exit due to pressure drop
in the connecting pipes. To compensate for these pressure drops,
the water must be pumped to a sufficiently higher pressure than the
ideal cycle
• As the steam flow through various

components, the heat loss from
the steam to the surroundings is
the another main source of
irreversibility.
Increasing the efficiency of Rankine cycle
The Rankine cycle efficiency can be improved by:
 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.
Lowering the Condenser Pressure (Lowers 𝑻𝒍𝒐𝒘, 𝒂𝒗𝒈)
 Lowering the operating pressure of the
condenser lowers the temperature of the
steam, and thus the temperature at which
heat is rejected.
 The cooled area on the T-s diagram
represents the increase in net work output
as a result of lowering the condenser
pressure from P4 to P’4.Though the heat
input requirements is increased
(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.
Superheating the Steam to High Temperatures (Increases 𝑻 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉, 𝒂𝒗𝒈)
Area under the curve 3-3’-4’-4 represents the

increase in the net work due to superheating the
steam.
The total area under the curve 3-3’represents
the increase in the heat input.
Both the net work and heat input increases as a
result of superheating the steam to a high
temperature.
The overall effect is an increase in thermal
efficiency, since the average temperature at
which heat is added increases.
The temperature to which steam can be
superheated is limited by metallurgical
considerations.
Presently, the highest steam temperature
allowed at the turbine inlet is about 6200C.
Increasing the boiler pressure (Increases Thigh,avg)
Increase in boiler operating pressure will
automatically increase the average
temperature at which heat is transferred to
the steam and thus raises the thermal
efficiency of the cycle.
For a fixed turbine inlet temperature, the
cycle shifts to the left and the moisture
content of steam at the turbine exit
increases. This undesirable side effect can
be corrected by reheating the steam.
The Ideal Reheat Rankine cycle
The efficiency of the Rankine cycle can be increased by expanding 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 commonly used in modern steam power plants.
The expansion process takes place in two stages, i.e., the high-pressure and
low pressure turbines.
The Ideal Reheat Rankine cycle
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 is then expands isentropically in the second stage (low pressure
turbine) to the condenser pressure.
The Ideal Regenerative Rankine cycle
 The regeneration process in steam power plants is
accomplished by extracting (or bleeding) steam from
turbine at various stages and feed that steam in heat
exchanger where the feed water is heated. These heat
exchangers are called regenerator or feedwater heater
(FWH).
 FWH also help removing the air that leaks in at the
condenser (deaerating the feedwater).
 There are two types of FWH’s,
 Open feedwater heater
 Closed feedwater heater.
Open Feedwater Heaters
An open FWH is basically a mixing chamber, where the steam extracted from
the turbine mixes with feed water exiting the pump. Ideally the mixture leaves
the heater as a saturated liquid at the heater pressure.
Steam enters the turbine at boiler pressure and expands isentropically to an
intermediate pressure. Some steam is extracted at this state and routed to the
FWH, while the remaining steam continues to expand isentropically to the
condenser pressure. This steam leaves the condenser as a saturated liquid.
Open Feedwater Heaters
The condenser water enters in an isentropic pump, compressed to the FWH

pressure and is routed to the FWH and mixes with the steam extracted from
the turbine.
A second pump raises the pressure of the water to the boiler pressure. The
cycle is completed by heating the water in the boiler to the turbine inlet state.
Closed Feedwater Heaters
In closed FWH, heat is transferred from the extracted steam to the feedwater
without any mixing taking place. Thus; two streams can be at different pressures,
since they don’t mix.
In an ideal closed FWH, the feedwater is heated to the exit temperature of the
extracted steam, which ideally leaves the heater as a saturated liquid at the
extraction pressure.
Closed Feedwater Heaters
In actual power plants, the feedwater leaves the heater below the exit temperature
of the extracted steam because a temperature difference of at least a few degrees is
required for any effective heat transfer to take place.
Next lecture
• Heat transfer
Dr. Md. Shahnewaz Bhuiyan Dept. TE, ISU TE 223: Mechanical Engineering 23
Phases of pure substances
The first law of thermodynamics:
• The conservation of energy principle and it asserts that energy is a
thermodynamics property.
The second law of thermodynamics:

• Asserts that energy has quality as well as quantity and actual processes
occur in the direction of decreasing quality of energy.
Heat flows in the direction of decreasing

temperature
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TE 223: Mechanical Engineering

Dr. Md. Shahnewaz Bhuiyan

 They operate on a cycle

Source: A reservoir that supplies energy in the form of heat

Process 1-2: Isothermal expansion

1-2 Isentropic compression in a pump

Water enters the pump at state 1 as saturated liquid and is compressed

Water enters the boiler as a compressed liquid at state 2 and leaves as a

• As the steam flow through various

 Increase the average temperature at which heat is transferred to

 Decrease the average temperature at which heat is rejected from

Area under the curve 3-3’-4’-4 represents the

The condenser water enters in an isentropic pump, compressed to the FWH

The second law of thermodynamics:

Heat flows in the direction of decreasing

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