Equity of temperature Two bodies have equality of temperature if, when they are in thermal communication, no change in any

observable property occurs. The title may also be read as Equilibrium of Temperature.

Details Although temperature is a familiar property, defining it exactly is difficult. Temperature may be understood in terms of a sense of hotness or coldness when touching an object. When a hot body and a cold body are brought into contact, the hot body becomes cooler and the cold body becomes warmer. If these bodies remain in contact for some time, they usually appear to have the same hotness or coldness. However, one's sense of hotness or coldness is very unreliable. Sometimes very cold bodies may seem hot, and bodies of different materials that are at the same temperature appear to be at different temperatures. Because of these difficulties in defining temperature, the equality of temperature is defined. Consider two blocks of copper, one hot and the other cold, each of which is in contact with a mercury-in-glass thermometer. If these two blocks of copper are brought into thermal communication, it is observed that the electrical resistance of the hot block decreases with time and that of the cold block increases with time. After a period of time has elapsed, however, no further changes in resistance are observed. Similarly, when the blocks are first brought in thermal communication, the length of a side of the hot block decreases with time, but the length of a side of the cold block increases with time. After a period of time, no further change in length of either of the blocks is perceived. In addition, the mercury column of the the thermometer in the hot block drops at first and that in the cold block rises, but after a period of time no further changes in height are observed. It may then be said, therefore, that two bodies have equality of temperature if, when they are in thermal communication, no change in any observable property occurs. Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics The zeroth law of thermodynamics states that when two bodies have equality of temperature with a third body, they in turn have equality of temperature with each other. All three bodies share a common property, which is the temperature. For example: one block of copper is brought

into contact with a thermometer until equality of temperature is established, and is then removed. A second block of copper is brought into contact with the same thermometer. If there is no change in the mercury level of the thermometer during this process, it can be said that both blocks are in thermal equilibrium with the given thermometer. First Law of Thermodynamics

The first law of thermodynamics states that, as a system undergoes a change of state, energy may cross the boundary as either heat or work, and each may be positive or negative. The net change in the energy of the system will be equal to the net energy that crosses the boundary of the system, which may change in the form of internal energy, kinetic energy, or potential energy. The first law of thermodynamics can be summarized in the equation:

Where: is the heat transferred to the system during the process is the change in internal energy is the change in kinetic energy is the change in potential energy is the work done by the system during the process

Second Law of Thermodynamics

The second law defines the direction in which a specific thermal process can take place. The second law of thermodynamics states that it impossible to construct a device that operates in a cycle and produces no effect other than the transfer of heat from a cooler body to a hotter body. The second law of thermodynamics is sometimes called the law of entropy, as it introduces the important property called entropy. Entropy can be thought of as a measure of how close a system is to equilibrium; it can also be thought of as a measure of the disorder in the system.

Vapor Compression Refrigeration Cycle

One of the applications that involves thermodynamic principles is the refrigerator. The figure below is a schematic diagram of the components found in a typical refrigerator. The refrigerant enters the compressor as a slightly superheated vapor at a low pressure. It then leaves the compressor and enters the condenser as a vapor at some elevated pressure, where the refrigerant is condensed as a result of heat transfer to cooling water or to the surroundings. The refrigerant then leaves the condenser as a high-pressure liquid. The pressure of the liquid is decreased as it flows through the expansion valve and, as a result, some of the liquid flashes into vapor. The remaining liquid, now at a lower pressure, is vaporized in the evaporator as a result of heat transfer from the refrigerated space. This vapor then enters the compressor.

Methods to increase the efficiency of the Rankine cycle Basic idea: Increase the average temperature at which heat is transferred to the working fluid in the boiler, or decrease the average temperature at which heat is rejected from the working fluid in the condenser.

1. Lowering the condenser Pressure:-

Lowering the operating pressure of the condenser lowers the temperature at which heat is rejected. The overall effect of lowering the condenser pressure is an increase in the thermal efficiency of the cycle.

2. Superheating the steam to high temperatures:-

The average temperature at which heat is added to the steam can be increased without increasing the boiler pressure by superheating the steam to high temperatures. Superheating the steam to higher temperatures has another very desirable effect: It decreases the moisture content of the steam at the turbine exit. 3. Increasing the Boiler pressure:-

Increasing the operating pressure of the boiler, automatically raises the temperature at which boiling takes place. This raises the average temperature at which heat is added to the steam and thus raises the thermal efficiency of the cycle.. 4.7.1 Rankine Cycle With Reheat One of the major issues with a Rankine cycle with a high boiler pressure or a low condenser pressure is the formation of liquid droplets in the low pressure side of the turbine. The reheat cycle is often used to prevent liquid droplet formation. The first turbine accepts vapor from the boiler at high pressure. After the vapor has passed through the first turbine, it re-enters the boiler and is reheated before passing through a second, lower pressure turbine. Among other advantages, this prevents the vapor from condensing during its expansion which can seriously damage the turbine blades. The reheat cycle does not significantly influence the thermal efficiency of the cycle, but it does increase the work out. The reheat cycle requires additional investment for equipment and also increases the maintenance costs. An economic analysis should be preformed to justify the reheat cycle. A schematic diagram of the reheat Rankine cycle is given in Fig. 4.14 and various thermodynamic states are given in Fig. 4.15. The total heat input to the cycle is given by qin qprimary qreheat h5 h4 h3h2 (4.36 The total work output is the combination of the work output from both the turbines and is given by Wout Wturbine1 Wturbine2 h5 h6 h3 h4 (4.37) The thermal efficiency= qin/wout 4.7.2 Regenerative Rankine Cycle In the regenerative Rankine cycle, the working fluid, water, after emerging from the condenser possibly as a subcooled liquid is heated by steam tapped from the hot portion of the cycle. This can reduce the energy required to heat the high pressure water to its saturation temperature in the boiler. This would avoid the necessity of condensing all of the steam. A cycle which utilizes this type of reheating is called a regenerative cycle and a schematic diagram of the major elements of the

cycle is shown in Fig. 4.16. The T-s diagram of such a cycle is shown in Fig. 4.17.

The water entering the boiler is generally referred to as feedwater and the device used to mix the extracted steam and the condenser water is called a feedwater heater. Two types of schematics can be used for the feedwater heater: steam in a mixing chamber. The schematic of the regenerative Rankine cycle with a closed feed water heater is explained in Fig. 4.18. In this configuration, part of the stream from the turbine is mixed directly with that from the condenser. In general, the more feed-

4.8 Supercritical Rankine Cycle New materials are allowing the use of much higher temperature in power plants [94, 95]. As discussed in Chapter 6, a number of supercritical power plants are now in operations world wide, which use a supercritical Rankine cycle [96 105]. A pressure of 30 MPa and a temperature greater than 600oC are generally used in supercritical power plants. The T-s diagram of the cycle is shown in Fig. 4.19. 4.8 Supercritical Rankine Cycle 113 water heaters, the better is the cycle efficiency.