Mende Suresh Publications

Power Plant Vapor Power Cycles

Chapter Two

Vapor Power Cycles

2-1 Introduction :
A power plant is assembly of systems or subsystems to generate electricity,
i.e., power with economy and requirements. The power plant itself must be
useful economically and environmental friendly to the society.
A power plant may be defined as a machine or assembly of equipment that
generates and delivers a flow of mechanical or electrical energy.

The major power plants are:

1. Steam power plant
2. Diesel power plant
3. Gas turbine power plant
4. Nuclear power plant
5. Hydro electric power plant
The Steam Power Plant, Diesel Power Plant, Gas Turbine Power Plant and
Nuclear Power Plants are called THERMAL POWER PLANT, because
these convert heat into electric energy.
Steam Power Plant (SPP) is a power plant in which the prime mover is
steam driven. Water is heated, turns into steam and spins a steam turbine
which drives an electrical generator. After it passes through the turbine, the
steam is condensed in a condenser. Figure 2.1shown the block diagram of
steam power plant.

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Figure 2.1: Steam Power Plant

2-2 Power plant cycles

Thermodynamic cycles which are used in devices producing power are
called power cycles. Power production can be had by using working fluid
either in vapour form or in gaseous form. When vapour is the working fluid
then they are called vapour power cycles, whereas in case of working fluid
being gas these are called gas power cycles.

Power plants cycle generally divided in to the following groups,

Vapor Power Cycle
Vapor power cycles can be further classified as,
1. Carnot vapour power cycle
2. Rankine cycle
3. Reheat cycle
4. Regenerative cycle.

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Gas Power Cycles

Gas Power Cycles can be further classified as,
1. Otto cycle 2. Dual combustion cycle
3. Gas turbine cycle 4. Diesel cycle

2-2-1 Carnot vapor power cycle

Carnot cycle has already been defined earlier as an ideal cycle having
highest thermodynamic efficiency. Carnot cycle uses to get positive work
with steam as working fluid. As shown in figure 2.2 arrangements proposed
for using Carnot vapour power cycle is as follows:

Figure 2.2: Arrangement of Carnot cycle

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Pump:
Water enters the pump at state 1 as saturated liquid and is compressed
isentropically to the operating pressure of the boiler. The water temperature
increases somewhat during this isentropic compression process due to a
slight decrease in the specific volume of water.

Boiler
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 (the
superheater), is often called the steam generator.

Turbine
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.

Condenser
Condenser is a closed vessel in which steam is condensed by abstracting the
heat and where the pressure is maintained below atmospheric pressure.
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 leaves
the condenser as saturated liquid and enters the pump, completing the cycle.

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Thermal analysis for Carnot cycle:

The network for unit mass flow:

Wnet = WT - Wp
Wnet h3 h4 h2 h1

For Boiler:
Qadd h3 h2
For Condenser:
Qrejected h4 h1

The thermal efficiency:

Wnet
carnot
Qadd
h3 h4 h2 h1
carnot
h3 h2

The heat added and rejected can be given as function of temperature and
entropy as follows:

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Since : Q T s
Qadd T2 s3 s2
Qrejected T1 s4 s1

Also : s1 = s2 and s3 = s4

TL
carnot 1
TH
T1
1
T2

EXAMPLE 1
A Carnot cycle works on steam between the pressure limits of 7 MPa and
7 kPa. Determine thermal efficiency, turbine work and compression work
per kg of steam.

SOLUTION:

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2-2-2 Ideal Rankine cycle:

Many 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. As shown in figure 2.3 the cycle called
Rankine cycle, which is the ideal cycle for vapour power plants.

Figure 2.3: Schematic Layout of ideal Rankine cycle.

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The T-S diagram of ideal Rankine cycle is shown in figure 2.4.

Figure 2.4: T-S diagram of ideal Rankine cycle

The ideal Rankine cycle 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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2-2-2-1Energy Analysis of the Ideal Rankine Cycle

All four components associated with the Rankine cycle (the pump, boiler,
turbine, and condenser) are steady-flow devices, and thus all four processes
that make up the Rankine cycle can be analyzed as steady-flow processes.
The boiler and the condenser do not involve any work. The pump and the
turbine are assumed to be isentropic.

1-2 Pump Work process:

Wpump= Wp = (h2 h1) kJ/kg
= vf (P2 P1) kJ/kg
Where:
vf for P2 from steam table and P1 and P2 are in kPa
.
Pump power m WP in kW

2-3 Heat Supplied in Boiler: Qsupply process

Qsup ply h3 h2 kJ/kg

.
Qsup ply m h3 h2 kW

3-4 Turbine work

WT h3 h4 kJ/kg
.
Turbine power m h3 h4 in kW
.
Where : m is the mass flow rate of steam in kg/sec

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h1 and h2 can be taken from steam table for P1 and P2 respectively.

P2 = high pressure (or) boiler pressure (or) inlet to turbine pressure
P1 = low pressure (or) condenser pressure
Also, we can use Mollier diagram to find h1 and h2.

4-1 Constant pressure condensation

Qrejected h4 h1 kJ/kg
.
Qrejected in kW m h4 h1
h1 = hf at low pressure P1

Net Work
Wnet = WT - Wp

Thermal Efficiency: It is ratio of network to the heat supplied.

Wnet
cycle or rankine or thermal
Qsupply
WT WP h3 h4 h2 h1
Qsupply h3 h2

3600 kg
SSC
Wnet kW - hr

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Wnet
Work ratio
WT
WP h2 h1
The back work ratio : bwr
WT h3 h4

EXAMPLE 2
Steam is the working fluid in an ideal Rankine cycle. Saturated vapor enters
the turbine at 8.0 MPa and saturated liquid exits the condenser at a pressure
of 0.008 MPa. The net power output of the cycle is 100 MW.
Determine for the cycle:
(a) the thermal efficiency, (b) the back work ratio, (c) the mass flow rate of
the steam, in kg/h, (d ) the mass flow rate of the condenser cooling water, in
kg/h, if cooling water enters the condenser at 15º C and exits at 35º C.

SOLUTION

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2-2-3 Real Vapour Power Cycles:

Fig. 2.5 : Temperature entropy diagram showing the effects of turbine and
pump irreversibilities.

TURBINE: The principal internal irreversibility experienced by the

working fluid is associated with expansion through the turbine. The work
developed in this process per unit of mass flowing is less than that for the
corresponding isentropic expansion 3 4s.The isentropic turbine efficiency
is:

PUMP: The work input to the pump required to overcome irreversibilities

also reduces the net power output of the plant. As illustrated by Process 1 2
of Fig. 2.5, the work input per unit of mass flowing is greater than that for
the corresponding isentropic process 1 2s. The isentropic pump efficiency
is:

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2-3 How Can Increase the Efficiency of the Rankine Cycle?

1. Lowering the Condenser Pressure (Lowers Tlow,avg)

The effect of lowering the condenser pressure on the Rankine cycle
efficiency is illustrated on a T-s diagram in Fig. 2-6. The colored area on this
diagram represents the increase in net work output as a result of lowering the
condenser pressure. 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.

Figure 2.6 The effect of lowering the condenser pressure on the ideal
Rankine cycle.

To take advantage of the increased efficiencies at low pressures, the

condensers of steam power plants usually operate well below the
atmospheric pressure. This does not present a major problem since the vapor
power cycles operate in a closed loop.

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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, however, since the average temperature
at which heat is added increases.
Superheating the steam to higher temperatures has another very desirable
effect: It decreases the moisture content of the steam at the turbine exit, as
can be seen from the T-s diagram (the quality at state 4' is higher than that at
state 4).

Figure 2.7: The effect of superheating the steam to higher temperatures on

the ideal Rankine cycle.

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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. Notice that
for a fixed turbine inlet temperature, the cycle shifts to the left and the
moisture content of steam at the turbine exit increases.

Figure 2.8: The effect of increasing the boiler pressure on the ideal Rankine
cycle.

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2-4 Reheat
There are some methods to improve cycle performance. The thermal
efficiency of the cycle can be improved by following methods:
(i) By reheating of steam
(ii) By regenerative feed heating
(iii) By water extraction
(iv) By using binary vapour
Reheating System
The T-s diagram of the ideal reheat Rankine cycle and the schematic of the
power plant operating on this cycle are shown in Fig. 2.9.

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

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Figure 2.9: The ideal reheat Rankine cycle

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Advantages (or) effects of Re-heating:

(1) Network done increases
(2) Heat supply increases
(3) Thermal efficiency increases
(4) The turbine exit steam dryness fraction increases, thus moisture
decreases, therefore blade erosion becomes minimum, and that lead to
increase the life of the turbine.
(5) Erosion and corrosion problems in the steam turbine are eliminated/or
may be avoided

Disadvantages of Reheating:
1- Reheating requires more maintenance.

2- The increase in thermal efficiency is not appreciable in comparison to the

expenditure incurred in reheating.

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2.5 The Ideal Regenerative Rankine Cycle

A practical regeneration process in steam power plants is accomplished by

steam, which could have produced more work by expanding further in the
turbine, is used to heat the feedwater instead. The device where the
feedwater is heated by regeneration is called a regenerator, or a feedwater
heater (FWH). Most modern steam power plants use between 5-8 feedwater
heaters.

A feedwater heater is basically a heat exchanger in which heat is transferred

from the steam to the feedwater. There are two types of feedwater as follow:
1.Open or direct contact type.
2.Closed type with:
a- drains cascaded backward
b- drains pumped forward.

feedwater

Open feedwater heaters Closed feedwater heaters

mixing the two fluid without mixing them
streams

Backward Forward
cascaded drain pumped drain

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Advantages of Regenerative cycle over Simple Rankine cycle :

1. Reducing the heating process in the boiler.
2. The thermal stresses set up in the boiler are minimised. This is due to the
fact that temperature ranges in the boiler are reduced.
3. Improving The thermal efficiency because the average temperature of heat
addition to the cycle is increased.
4. A small size condenser is required.
Disadvantages :
1. The plant becomes more complicated.
2. Because of addition of heaters greater maintenance is required.
3. The heaters are costly and the gain in thermal efficiency is not much in
comparison to the higher costs.

Generally the advantages of FWHS can be surmised as below:

Open FWHs Closed FWHs

1- Simple and inexpensive 1- Complex and expensive because

2- More efficient heat transfer
due to direct contact
3- Each FWH requires separate
pump
4- Usually only one open FWH
is used
of the internal tubing network
2- Less efficient since the two streams
are not allowed being in direct
contact.
3- One pump can be used for
several FWHs
4- Up to 7 closed FWH are used in
large power plants.

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2.7 Cogeneration
Cogeneration is the simultaneous generation of electricity and steam (or
heat) in a power plant.
In all the cycles discussed so far, the purpose was to convert a portion of the
heat transferred to the working fluid to work, which is the most valuable
form of energy. The remaining portion of the heat is rejected to rivers, lakes,
oceans, or the atmosphere as waste heat, because its quality (or grade) is too
low to be of any practical use. Wasting a large amount of heat is a price we
have to pay to produce work, because electrical or mechanical work is the
only form of energy on which many engineering devices (such as a fan) can
operate. Many systems or devices, however, require energy input in the form
of heat, called process heat.
In general, cogeneration is the production of more than one useful form of
energy (such as process heat and electric power) from the same energy
source.

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Ideal steam-turbine cogeneration plant shown in Fig. 2.15.

Figure 2.15: A cogeneration plant with adjustable loads.

All the energy transferred to the steam in the boiler is utilized as either
process heat or electric power. Thus it is appropriate to define a utilization
factor u for a cogeneration plant as:

Where:
Qout = the heat rejected in the condenser, also includes all the undesirable
heat losses from the piping and other components.

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m4 = total mass flow rate in kg/s

= m5 + m6 + m7

qin h4 h3
qout 1 m1 m2 h7 h1
qp m1h5 m2 h6 m1 m2 h8
Win 1 m1 m2 h2 h1 m1 m2 h9 h8
Wout 1 m1 h4 h6 1 m1 m2 h6 h7
Wnet Wout Win

Or

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qin h6 h5
qout 1 m1 h8 h1
qp m1h7 m1h3

Win 1 m1 h2 h1 m1 h4 h3
Wout h6 h7 1 m1 h7 h8
Wnet Wout Win

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