Mulungushi University

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
MEE 302 – Assignment 1: Second Law of Thermodynamics and Entropy

Date: 3rd March 2024

Question 1
A reversible heat engine operates between two reservoirs at 827ºC and 27ºC. Engine drives a
Carnot Refrigerator, maintaining –13ºC and rejecting heat to reservoir at 27ºC. Heat input to
the engine is 2000kJ and the net work available is 300 kJ. How much heat is transferred to
refrigerant and total heat rejected to reservoir at 27ºC?
Question 2
A Carnot engine getting heat at 800 K is used to drive a Carnot refrigerator maintaining 280K
temperature. Both engine and refrigerator reject heat at some temperature, T, when heat given
to engine is equal to heat absorbed by refrigerator. Determine.
a) Efficiency of engine, and
b) C.O.P. of refrigerator.

Question 3
Three reversible engines of Carnot type are operating in series as shown between the limiting
temperatures of 1100 K and 300 K. Determine the intermediate temperatures if the work
output from engines is in proportion of 3 : 2 : 1.

Question 4
0.5kg of air executes a Carnot power cycle having a thermal efficiency of 50%. The heat
transfer to the air during isothermal expansion is 40kJ. At the beginning of the isothermal
expansion the pressure is 7bar and the volume is 0.12m3. Determine;

a) the maximum and minimum temperatures for the cycle in Kelvin,

b) the volume at the end of isothermal expansion in m3, and
c) the work and heat transfer for each of the four processes in kJ.
For air cP = 1.008kJ/kg.K, cv= 0.721 kJ/kg.K.
Question 5
An adiabatic pump is to be used to compress saturated liquid water at 10kPa to a pressure to
15MPa in a reversible manner. Determine the work input using;
a) entropy data from the compressed liquid table,
b) inlet specific volume and pressure values,
c) average specific volume and pressure values.
d) Also, determine the errors involved in parts (b) and (c).

Question 6
An insulated piston–cylinder device initially contains 300L of air at 120kPa and 17C. Air is
now heated for 15mins by a 200W resistance heater placed inside the cylinder. The pressure
of air is maintained constant during this process. Determine the entropy change of air,
assuming;
a) constant specific heats, and
b) variable specific heats.

Question 7
Air enters a nozzle steadily at 280kPa and 77C with a velocity of 50m/s and exits at 85kPa
and 320m/s. The heat losses from the nozzle to the surrounding medium at 20C are
estimated to be 3.2kJ/kg. Determine,
a) the exit temperature, and
b) the total entropy change for this process.

Question 8
Two tanks A and B are connected through a pipe with valve in between. Initially valve is
closed, and tanks A and B contain 0.6kg of air at 90°C, 1 bar and 1kg of air at 45°C, 2bar
respectively. Subsequently valve is opened, and air is allowed to mix until equilibrium.
Considering the complete system to be insulated determine.
a) the final temperature,
b) final pressure, and
c) entropy change.