THERMODYNAMIC POWER CYCLES - II

ME2303 Applied Thermodynamics

Prepared by: Prof .N SSenanayake
Ms. A. D. N. Piumi

Prepared By: Prof S. N. Senanayaka

Rankine cycle with improvements
 Re-heat cycle

Same temp

When the pressure drops to a certain value after high pressure

turbine, the steam is diverted to reheating unit of the boiler and
then super heat steam is allowed to expand through low
pressure turbine.
 Re-heat cycle

 Reheating of steam avoids wet steam at the

turbine outlet.
 Reheating also increases the network of the cycle
without further increasing the superheat
temperature, which is limited by the metallurgical
properties of the turbine.
 Reheating reduces the specific steam
consumption(1/wTur )as the area of the cycle on T-S
diagram that gives the network is increased
(increased by the area ABCD in figure)
 Example

 Find out efficiency and specific steam consumption

taking boiler pressure as 30bar and condenser
pressure as 0.04bar with super heat temperature of
450oC and with re-heating.
Solution
From steam tables
Point 2; h2 = 3343 kJ/kg, s2= 7.082kJ/kg
Point 3; s3= s2= 7.082 kJ/kg (saturated
vapor) p3 = p4 = 2.3 bar, h3 = 2713 kJ/kg
h4 = 3381 kJ/kg (at superheat temperature 450oC and pressure of 2.3 bar) s4
= 8.310 kJ/kg
s5= s4= 8.310 kJ/kg
s5= sf5 + x5 sfg5 x5
= 0.98
h5 = hf5 + x5 hfg5
h5 = 2505 kJ/kg
h6 = h7 = 121 kJ/kg
The total heat added to the steam (water) in the boiler
q72 + q34 = (h2 - h7) + (h4 - h3) = (3343 – 121) + (3381 – 2713) = 3890 kJ/kg
 Total turbine work
W23 + w45 = - (h3 – h2) - (h5 – h4) = - (2713 – 3343) – (2505 – 3381)
= - 1506kJ/kg

The cycle efficiency is

 w45 1506
  w23   0.387 (>0.3678)
q72  q34 3890

The specific steam consumption

s.s.c. = 3600/1506 = 2.39kg/kWh

A small improvement to the efficiency. This improvement depends on the point in

the expansion at which reheating is carried out. The effective average
temperature at which heat is added in the reheat cycle (ABCD of the figure) may
be lower than that in the simple Rankine cycle if the intermediate pressure is too
low. Then the improvement in the efficiency becomes marginal.
Regenerative cycle
 Regenerative cycle
In simple Rankine Cycle additional heat needs to be supplied to bring
water to the saturation temperature at the boiler pressure. Because of
this the efficiency is lowered from that of Carnot cycle. If heat could
be supplied within the cycle itself to do this, the efficiency could be
increased.
One theoretical way of doing this is to let the steam leaving the
pump, which is sub cooled, goes through a part of a turbine and
raise the temperature of water to the saturated value.
However, practical limitation exist that this cannot be implemented.
One is that design of a turbine that would act as a both expander
and a heat exchanger. Secondly, as the process in the turbine is no
longer adiabatic , the steam leaving the turbine tends to be wet that
is not desirable for the turbine.
 Regenerative cycle with open feed
heater
 As there are practical difficulties implementing
the regenerative cycle, the function of
regeneration is achieved in a different manner in
practice.
 Instead of taking the feed water to the turbine
casing, some of the steam from the turbine is taken
to the feed water to raise its temperature. This
process is known as steam bleeding. The bleeding
can be done at several stages in the turbine.
Regenerative cycle with open feed
heater

Fractions
Saturated liquid

mixture
 Example 1: open feed heater

With turbine pressure of 30bar and the condenser

pressure of 0.04bar determine the Rankine efficiency
and specific steam consumption with one open feed
heater.
The steam entering the turbine is at dry saturated
state (Saturated vapor). The steam bleeding is
done at the middle temperature between
condensation and evaporation.
Solution
First determine the bleed pressure. This
is selected such that t8 – t4 equally
divided
At p = 30bar and steam is saturated
liquid at 8

From steam tables t8 = 233.8 oC

We know at state 4, p = 0.04bar and
steam is saturated liquid
From steam tables, t4 = 29oC
Bleed temperature = (233.8 + 29)/2 =
131.4oC
From tables p2 = p6 = p5 = 2.8bar
Now calculate the massof steam bled at 2 assuming that after
mixing the bled steam with water at sate 5, water becomes
saturated at sate 6. Also the mixing is assumed to be adiabatic.
Writing energy balance equation to feed heater;
h6  h 5
h6 = y h2 + (1-y) h5 y
h2  h5

From tables, h6 = 551kJ/kg

h2 is found assuming isentropic expansion from 1 to 2

s1= s2= 6.186kJ/kg

But, s2= sf + x2 sfg

6.186 = 1.647 + x2 (5.368) , x2 = 0.846

Therefore,
h2 = hf + x2 hfg = 551 + 0.846 (2171) = 2388kJ/kg
h5 is assumed to equal to h4 as the pump work is very small
h5 = h4 = 121.5kJ/kg

551-121.5
y  0.1895kg
2388-121.5

Heat transfer in the boiler, q71 = h1- h7

From tables, h1 = hg at 30bar
h1 = 2803kJ/kg
If the pump work is neglected,
q71 = h1- h6 = 2803-551 = 2252kJ/kg
Turbine work;

w13 = w12 + w23

w13 = - (h2 – h1) – (1 – y)(h3 – h2) kJ/kg

We have found all h values except h3

We find h3 by considering isentropic process form 2 to 3

s1 = s2 = s3 = 6.186kJ/kg, But, s3= sf + x3 sfg

6.186 = 0.423 + x3 (8.050) , x2 = 0.716

Therefore, h3 = hf + x3 hfg = 121.5 + 0.716 (2432.4) = 1863kJ/kg
w13 = - (2388- 2803) – (1- 0.1895)(1863 – 2388) = 415 + 425.5

w13 = 840.5kJ/kg
 = 840.5/ 2252 = 0.373 (
ssc= 3600/840.5 = 4.28 kg/kWh
Notice the ideal efficiency improvement from basic Rankine
cycle (0.350).
 Regenerative cycle with closed feed
heater
Here the bled steam at intermediate turbine pressures is not
mixed with feed water to the boiler, but heat of the bled
steam is transferred to the feed water in stages as of a heat
exchanger.
Cycle with one
closed feed
heater
 y
1

y
 Example 2: closed feed heaters

Determine the ideal efficiency and the specific heat

consumption of a steam power plant when the turbine
pressure and the condenser pressure are 30 bar and
0.04 bar respectively. The power plant operates on
Regenerative Rankine Cycle with closed 2 feed
heaters. The steam enters the turbine at 450oC
superheat.

Note: Understand how to apply energy balance equation for

closed feedwater heater 1 , heater 2 and turbine to calculate y,z and Wout
 Solution

1.Mark fractions
of steam bled

Heater 1 Heater 2

2.Apply energy balance

 First determine steam bleed points.
Steam bleed pressures are found considering equal saturation temperature
differences on the T-Sdiagram as shownbelow.

Assume:
h10 = h13 = hf
h11 = h8 = hf

We calculate the bleed pressures, so that the temperature difference

(t14 – t4) is divided into 3 equal steps.
t14 = 233.8oC t4 = 29 oC

[t14 – t15] = [t15 – t13] = [t13 – t4] = [t14 – t 4 ]/3 = 68.27

t15 = 233.8 – 68.27 = 165.53oC pressure = 7bar

t13 = 165.53 – 68.27 = 97.26oC pressure = 1 bar

In finding enthalpies we make the following assumptions that will not

introduce a significant error to the final results.

1. Feed pump work is negligible i.e. h4 = h5

2. After throttling the state points lie on saturation liquid line;
i.e. h10 = h13 = hf and h11 = h8 = hf
3. The temperature of feed water coming into the feed heater is
equal to the temperatures of bled steam leaving the feed
heater. Hence their enthalpies are equal, i.e. t12 = t10 and t5 =
t11.
4. The enthalpy of compressed liquid in feed line is approximated
to the saturation liquid enthalpy values of the same
temperature.
h1 = 3343 kJ/kg
s9= s1= 7.082 kJ/kg
At 7 bar sg= 6.709 kJ/kg
As s9 > sg the vapour is superheat
From h –s chart (Mollier Diagram for steam)
h9 = 2950kJ/kg, h2 = 2580kJ/kg, h3 = 2110kJ/kg
h4 = h5 =121.5kJ/kg [hf at 0.04 bar] - neglecting feed
pump work
Also h8 = h11 =121.5kJ/kg
h13 = h10 = h12 = 417kJ/kg [hf at 1.0 bar]
h6 = h15 = 697kJ/kg [hf at 7bar]
We need to find out the amount of steam bled to determine total
work and heat transfer.
Writing energy balance equation for each feed heater we get
the following.
For first feed heater:
yh9 + h12 = yh10 + h6
y = [h6 – h12]/[h9 – h10] = [697 – 417]/[2950 – 417]
y = 0.1105kg
For second feed heater

zh2  h5  yh13  h12  zh11  yh11

z(h2  h11)  (h12 h5 )  yh11  yh13

(h12  h5 )  y(h11  h13 )

z
h2  h11

h11  h5  h4

z
h5  h12  yh13  h11   417 121.5 0.1105121.5  417
h4  h2  2580 121.5
Heat added in the boiler,
q61 = h1 – h6 = 3343 – 697 = 2646 kJ/kg

Turbine work,
w13 = (h1 – h9) + (1 – 0.1105)(h9 – h2) + (1 – 0.1105 – 0.1069)(h2 – h3)

= (3343 – 2950) + 0.8895(2950 – 2580) + 0.7826 (2580 –2110)

= 1089.94 kJ/kg

The cycle efficiency and specific steam consumption;

 = w13/q61 = 1089.94/2646 = 0.412
s.s.c. = 3600/1089.94 = 3.303 kg/kWh