AN INTRODUCTION TO

STEAM POWER PLANTS

POWER PLANTS
 Introduction
• Carnot Cycle– The most efficient cycle working
between two specified temperature
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 Impracticalities associated with Ideal Cycle
• Isothermal heat transfer to or from a two-phase system is not
difficult to achieve in practice since maintaining a constant
pressure in the device automatically fixes the temperature at
the saturation value.
• Therefore, processes 1-2 and 3-4 can be approached closely in
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actual boilers and condensers.

 Impracticalities associated with Ideal Cycle
• Limiting the heat transfer processes to two-phase systems,
however, severely limits the maximum temperature that can be
used in the cycle (it has to remain under the critical-point value,
which is 374 oC for water).
• Limiting the maximum temperature in the cycle also limits the
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thermal efficiency
 Impracticalities associated with Ideal Cycle
• The isentropic expansion process (process 2-3) can be
approximated closely by a well-designed turbine. However, the
quality of the steam decreases during this process, as shown
on the T-s diagram in Fig
• The turbine has to handle steam with low quality, that is, steam
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with a high moisture content. The impingement of liquid

droplets on the turbine blades causes erosion and is a major
source of wear.
• Thus steam with qualities less than about 90 percent cannot be
tolerated in the operation of power plants.
 Impracticalities associated with Ideal Cycle
• The isentropic expansion process (process 2-3) can be
approximated closely by a well-designed turbine.
• The isentropic compression process (process 4-1) involves the
compression of a liquid–vapor mixture to a saturated liquid.
• There are two difficulties associated with this process.
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• First, it is not easy to control the condensation process so

precisely as to end up with the desired quality at state 4.
• Second, it is not practical to design a compressor that
handles two phases.
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• What are the problems associated with this cycle?

 RANKINE CYCLE: THE IDEAL CYCLE FOR VAPOR POWER CYCLES
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 Energy Analysis of the Ideal Rankine Cycle

• All the devices used in Rankine cycle are steady state

• All the four processes can be analyzed as Steady flow
processes
• The kinetic and potential energy changes of the steam
are usually small relative to the work and heat transfer
terms and are therefore usually neglected.
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• Then the steady-flow energy equation per unit mass of

steam reduces to
 Energy Analysis of the Ideal Rankine Cycle
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 Energy Analysis of the Ideal Rankine Cycle
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 • The conversion efficiency of power plants in the
United States is often expressed in terms of heat rate,
which is the amount of heat supplied, in Btu’s, to
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generate 1 kWh of electricity.

• The smaller the heat rate, the greater the efficiency.

1 kWh = 3412 Btu

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 “Climate change is the environmental
challenge of this generation, and it is
imperative that we act before it's too
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late.”
John Delaney
 Solve some sample problems/ numerical of steam power plants.
Environmental aspects of Power plants.
OR
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Impact of various power plants on our Environment.

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Thank You