MEB2083 ME Thermodynamic 2 January 2023

Assignment 1

1. What is the maximum possible thermal efficiency of a gas power cycle when using
thermal energy reservoirs at 1100oF and 80oF?
2. An ideal Otto cycle has a compression ratio of 10.5, takes in air at 90 kPa and 40oC,
and is repeated 2500 times per minute. Using constant specific heats at room
temperature, determine the thermal efficiency of this cycle and the rate of heat input if
the cycle is to produce 90 kW of power.
3. An ideal Diesel cycle has a compression ratio of 17 and a cut-off ratio of 1.3. Determine
the maximum temperature of the air and the rate of heat addition to this cycle when it
produces 140 kW of power and the state of the air at the beginning of the compression
is 90 kPa and 57oC. Use constant specific heats at room temperature.
4. Consider a regenerative gas-turbine power plant with two stages of compression and
two stages of expansion. The overall pressure ratio of the cycle is 9. The air enters each
stage of the compressor at 300 K and each stage of the turbine at 1200 K. Accounting
for the variation of specific heats with temperature, determine the minimum mass flow
rate of air needed to develop a net power output of 110 MW. [Answer: 250 kg/s]
5. A steam power plant operates on an ideal reheat– regenerative Rankine cycle and has a
net power output of 80 MW. Steam enters the high-pressure turbine at 10 MPa and
550oC and leaves at 0.8 MPa. Some steam is extracted at this pressure to heat the
feedwater in an open feedwater heater. The rest of the steam is reheated to 500oC and
is expanded in the low-pressure turbine to the condenser pressure of 10 kPa. Show the
cycle on a T-s diagram with respect to saturation lines and determine (a) the mass flow
rate of steam through the boiler and (b) the thermal efficiency of the cycle. [Answers: (a)
54.5 kg/s, (b) 44.4 percent]