Ahmad Hanif Firdaus, S.T., M.T., M.

Sc

Program Studi Teknik Mesin

Fakultas Teknik Universitas Muhammadiyah Surabaya

Consider a steam power plant operating on the simple ideal Rankine cycle.
Steam enters the turbine at 6 MPa and 350C and is condensed in the
condenser at a pressure of 10 kPa. Determine the thermal efficiency of this
cycle.
Rankine Vapor Power Cycle
500

6000 kPa
400

3
T [C]

300

200

10 kPa

100

0
0

10

12

s [kJ/kg-K]

Solution A steam power plant operating on the simple ideal Rankine cycle is considered. The
thermal efficiency of the cycle is to be determined.
Assumptions 1. Steady operating conditions exist. 2. Kinetic and potential energy changes are
negligible.
Analysis The schematic of the power plant and the T-s diagram of the cycle are shown in Fig. 103.
We note that the power plant operates on the ideal Rankine cycle. Therefore, the pump and the
turbine are isentropic, there are no pressure drops in the boiler and condenser, and steam leaves
the condenser and enters the pump as saturated liquid at the condenser pressure.

Pump
The pump work is obtained from the conservation of mass and energy for steady-flow
but neglecting potential and kinetic energy changes and assuming the pump is
adiabatic and reversible.
m 1 m 2 m
m 1h1 W pump m 2 h2
W pump m (h2 h1 )

Since the pumping process involves an incompressible liquid, state 2 is in the

compressed liquid region, we use a second method to find the pump work or the h
across the pump.
Recall the property relation:
dh = T ds + v dP
Since the ideal pumping process 1-2 is isentropic, ds = 0.

The incompressible liquid assumption allows

v v1 const .
h2 h1 v1 ( P2 P1 )

The pump work is calculated from

1 ( P2 P1 )
W pump m (h2 h1 ) mv
w pump

W pump
m

v1 ( P2 P1 )

Using the steam tables

kJ

191.81
1
f
kg
P1 10 kPa

Sat. liquid
m3
v v f 0.00101
1
kg
w pump v1 ( P2 P1 )
m3
kJ
0.00101 (6000 10) kPa 3
kg
m kPa
kJ
6.05
kg
4

Now, h2 is found from

h2 wpump h1
kJ
kJ
191.81
kg
kg
kJ
197.86
kg
6.05

Boiler
To find the heat supplied in the boiler, we apply the steady-flow conservation of mass
and energy to the boiler. If we neglect the potential and kinetic energies, and note
that no work is done on the steam in the boiler, then

m 2 m 3 m
m 2 h2 Q in m 3h3
Q in m (h3 h2 )

We find the properties at state 3 from the superheated tables as

kJ

3043.9
P3 6000 kPa 3
kg

kJ
T3 350o C
s3 6.3357

kg K
The heat transfer per unit mass is

Qin
qin
h3 h2
m
(3043.9 197.86)
2845.1

kJ
kg

kJ
kg

Turbine
The turbine work is obtained from the application of the conservation of mass and
energy for steady flow. We assume the process is adiabatic and reversible and
neglect changes in kinetic and potential energies.

m 3 m 4 m
m 3h3 Wturb m 4 h4
Wturb m (h3 h4 )
We find the properties at state 4 from the steam tables by noting s4 = s3 = 6.3357
kJ/kg-K and asking three questions.

at P4 10kPa : s f 0.6492

kJ
kJ
; sg 8.1488
kg K
kg K

is s4 s f ?
is s f s4 sg ?
is sg s4 ?

s4 s f x4 s fg
x4

s4 s f
s fg

6.3357 0.6492
0.758
7.4996

h4 h f x4 h fg
kJ
kJ
0.758(2392.1)
kg
kg
kJ
2005.0
kg
191.81

The turbine work per unit mass is

wturb h3 h4
(3043.9 2005.0)

kJ
kg

kJ
1038.9
kg

The net work done by the cycle is

wnet wturb wpump

(1038.9 6.05)
1032.8

kJ
kg

kJ
kg

The thermal efficiency is

kJ
1032.8
wnet
kg
th

kJ
qin
2845.1
kg
0.363 or 36.3%

EXAMPLE 2
An ideal regenerative steam power cycle operates so that steam enters the turbine at
3 MPa, 500oC, and exhausts at 10 kPa. A single open feedwater heater is used and
operates at 0.5 MPa. Compute the cycle thermal efficiency.
The important properties of water for this cycle are shown below.
States with selected properties
State

P
kPa

T
C

Selected saturation properties

h
kJ/kg

s
kJ/kg-K

P
kPa

Tsat
C

vf
3/kg
m

hf
kJ/kg

10

10

45.81

0.00101

191.8

500

500

151.83

0.00109

640.1

500

3000

233.85

3000

3000

6
7

500

3457.2

7.2359

500

2942.6

7.2359

10

2292.7

7.2359

0.00122

1008.3

10

The work for pump 1 is calculated from

w pump 1 v1 ( P2 P1 )
m3
kJ
0.00101 (500 10) kPa 3
kg
m kPa
kJ
0.5
kg
Now, h2 is found from

h2 w pump 1 h1
kJ
kJ
1918
.
kg
kg
kJ
192.3
kg
0.5

11

The fraction of mass extracted from the turbine for the open feedwater heater is
obtained from the energy balance on the open feedwater heater, as shown above.

kJ
h3 h2
kg
y

0.163
h6 h2 (2942.6 192.3) kJ
kg
(640.1 192.3)

This means that for each kg of steam entering the turbine, 0.163 kg is extracted for
the feedwater heater.
The work for pump 2 is calculated from

w pump 2 v3 ( P4 P3 )
m3
kJ
0.00109
(3000 500) kPa 3
kg
m kPa
kJ
2.7
kg
12

Now, h4 is found from the energy balance for pump 2 for a unit of mass flowing
through the pump.

Eout Ein
h4 wpump 2 h3
kJ
kJ
640.1
kg
kg
kJ
642.8
kg
2.7

Apply the steady-flow conservation of energy to the isentropic turbine.

Ein Eout
m5 h5 Wturb m6 h6 m7 h7
Wturb m5 [h5 yh6 (1 y )h7 ]
wturb

Wturb
h5 yh6 (1 y )h7
m5

[3457.2 (0.163)(2942.1) (1 0.163)(2292.7)]

1058.6

kJ
kg

kJ
kg

13

The net work done by the cycle is

Wnet Wturb W pump 1 W pump 2

m5 wnet m5 wturb m1wpump 1 m3 wpump 2
m5 wnet m5 wturb m5 (1 y ) wpump 1 m5 w pump 2
wnet wturb (1 y ) wpump 1 wpump 2
[1058.6 (1 0.163)(0.5) 2.7]
1055.5

kJ
kg

kJ
kg

Apply the steady-flow conservation of mass and energy to the boiler.

m 4 m 5
m 4 h4 Q in m 5h5
Q in m 5 (h5 h4 )
Q in
qin
h5 h4
m 5
14

The heat transfer per unit mass entering the turbine at the high pressure, state 5, is

qin h5 h4
(3457.2 642.8)

kJ
kJ
2814.4
kg
kg

The thermal efficiency is

kJ
w
kg
th net
qin 2814.4 kJ
kg
0.375 or 37.5%
1055.5

If these data were used for a Rankine cycle with no regeneration, then th = 35.6 percent. Thus,
the one open feedwater heater operating at 0.5 MPa increased the thermal efficiency by 1.9
percent. However, note that the mass flowing through the lower-pressure turbine stages has
been reduced by the amount extracted for the feedwater and the net work output for the
regenerative cycle is about 10 percent lower than the standard Rankine cycle based on a unit of
mass entering the turbine at the highest pressure.

15

Learn at Chapter 10 (page 551-588)

Y. A. engel and M. A. Boles, Thermodynamics:

An Engineering Approach, 5th edition, McGrawHill, 2006.

Jaga Berat Badan, Ya :P