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Introduction
Vapour is the substance that can
change its phase during a course of
cycle.
In the gas power cycles, the working
fluid remains gas throughout the
entire cycle.
But vapour power cycles are
external combustion systems in which
the working fluid is alternately
vaporized and condensed.
Why steam?
Steam is the most common working
fluid in vapour power cycles since it
has several desirable characteristics,
such as:
low cost
easy availability
chemically stability
physiologically harmless, and
high enthalpy of vaporization
Introduction
Steam power plants are referred to as coal plants,
nuclear plants, or natural gas plants depending on the
type of fuel used to supply heat to the steam. But steam
goes through the same basic cycle in all of them.
Net work done Wnet Heat supplied - Heat rejected T1 T2 dS T
Carnot 1 2
Heat supplied Qsup plied Heat supplied T1dS T1
Drawbacks of Carnot cycle
1) Steam condensation is not allowed to proceed to
completion. The condensation process is controlled one
and to be stopped at point C.
2) The working fluid at point C is both in the liquid and
vapour phase, and these do not form a homogeneous
mixture which cannot be compressed isentropically.
3) The vapour has a large specific volume and to
accommodate greater volumes, the size of the
compressor becomes quite big.
4) More power is required for running larger compressors
and hence poor plant efficiency is achieved.
5) The cycle has high specific steam consumption, large
back work ratio and low work ratio.
6) The steam at exhaust from the turbine is of low quality,
i.e. high moisture content. The liquid water droplets
causes pitting and hence erosion of the turbine blades.
Rankine cycle
Prof. Rankine modified Carnot cycle and presented a
technically feasible cycle, called Rankine cycle.
It is also a reversible cycle but differs from Carnot cycle
in the following respects.
1) The condensation process is allowed to proceed to
completion; the exhaust steam from the
engine/turbine is completely condensed. At the end
of the condensation process, the working fluid is only
fluid and not a mixture of liquid and vapour.
2) The pressure of liquid water can be easily raised to
the boiler pressure (pressure at which steam is being
generated in the boiler) by employing a small sized
pump.
3) The steam may be superheated in the boiler so as to
obtain exhaust steam of higher quality that can
prevent pitting and erosion of turbine blades.
Processes in Rankine cycle
1) Process 3–3: (Reversible adiabatic
pumping / compression - PUMP)
Rankine 1
h4 h1
h3 h2
Comparison of Carnot cycle and Rankine
cycle for the same temperature limits
Carnot Rankine
Why only Rankine cycle?
Why only Rankine cycle?
Carnot cycle needs a compressor to handle wet
steam mixture whereas in Rankine cycle, a
small pump is used.
The steam can be easily superheated at
constant pressure in a Rankine cycle.
Superheating of steam in a Carnot cycle at
constant temperature is accompanied by a fall
of pressure which is difficult to achieve in
practice because heat transfer and expansion
process should go side by side.
Therefore Rankine cycle is used as ideal cycle
for steam power plants.
Methods of improving performance of Rankine cycle
5) Regeneration process
Methods of improving performance of Rankine cycle
Increasing the boiler pressure
Methods of improving performance of Rankine cycle
Decreasing the condenser pressure
Schematic layout of
Rankine cycle with superheating
Methods of improving performance of Rankine cycle
Superheating the steam
Schematic layout of reheat Rankine cycle
Methods of improving performance of Rankine cycle
Reheating the steam between stages
Schematic layout of
regenerative Rankine cycle
Methods of improving performance of Rankine cycle
Regeneration process
Practical regenerative Rankine cycle
Features of regenerative Rankine cycle
There is improvement in cycle economy with relatively
much smaller capital expenditure.
Di-phenyl ether
Wpump h2 h1
Ideal work required
ideal
pump isentropic
Actual work required Wpump h2' h1
actual
Effect of irreversibilities on cycle efficiency
Tsat hf hg sf sg
(C) (kCal/kg) (kCal/kg) (kCal/kgK) (kCal/kgK)
540 1.80 87.3 0.0360 0.1217
205 6.92 78.7 0.0188 0.1675