NAMA : M. WAHYU ERWIN S.

NPM : 2213010068

BAB 9

GAS POWER CYCLES

# BASIC CONSIDERATIONS IN THE ANALYSIS

OF POWER CYCLES

Most power-producing devices operate on cycles, and the study of power

cycles is an exciting and important part of thermodynamics. The cycles
encountered in actual devices are difficult to analyze because of the presence of complicating effects,
such as friction, and the absence of sufficient
time for establishment of the equilibrium conditions during the cycle. To
make an analytical study of a cycle feasible, we have to keep the complexities at a manageable level and
utilize some idealizations.

A simple idealized model enables engineers to study the effects of the

major parameters that dominate the cycle without getting bogged down in the
details. The cycles discussed in this chapter are somewhat idealized, but they
still retain the general characteristics of the actual cycles they represent. The
conclusions reached from the analysis of ideal cycles are also applicable to
actual cycles. The thermal efficiency of the Otto cycle, the ideal cycle for
spark-ignition automobile engines, for example, increases with the compression ratio. This is also the
case for actual automobile engines. The numerical
values obtained from the analysis of an ideal cycle, however, are not necessarily representative of the
actual cycles, and care should be exercised in their
interpretation.

The idealizations and simplifications commonly employed in the analysis of power cycles can be
summarized as follows:
1. The cycle does not involve any friction. Therefore, the working fluid does not experience any pressure
drop as it flows in pipes or devices such as heat exchangers.
2. All expansion and compression processes take place in a quasiequilibrium manner.
3. The pipes connecting the various components of a system are well insulated, and heat transfer
through them is negligible.
Neglecting the changes in kinetic and potential energies of the working fluid is another commonly
utilized simplification in the analysis of power cycles. This is a reasonable assumption since in devices
that involve shaft work, such as turbines, compressors, and pumps, the kinetic and potential energy
terms are usually very small relative to the other terms in the energy equation. Fluid velocities
encountered in devices such as condensers, boilers, and mixing chambers are typically low, and the fluid
streams experience little change in their velocities, again making kinetic energy changes negligible.
The only devices where the changes in kinetic energy are significant are the nozzles and diffusers, which
are specifically designed to create large changes in velocity. In the preceding chapters, property
diagrams such as the P-v and T-s diagrams have served as valuable aids in the analysis of thermodynamic
processes. On both the P-v and T-s diagrams, the area enclosed by the process curves of a cycle
represents the net work produced during the cycle, which is also equivalent to the net heat transfer for
that cycle.