Closed Feed Water

Heaters
Ideal Regenerative Rankine Cycle
Introduction
A feedwater heater is used in a conventional
power plant to preheat boiler feed water. The
source of heat is steam bled from the turbines,
and the objective is to improve the
thermodynamic efficiency of the cycle.
A Closed Feedwater
Description of C.F.W.H
Closed feed-water heaters are typically shell and tube
type heat exchanger where the feed-water passes
throughout the tubes and is heated by turbine
extraction steam. These do not require separate pumps
before and after the heater to boost the feed-water to
the pressure of the extracted steam as with an open
heater.
Advantages of C.F.W.H
Reduces the irreversibility involved in steam generation
and hence increase efficiency.
It helps to avoid thermal shock to the boiler metal when
the feed-water is introduced back into the steam cycle.
Streams generally need to be at the same pressure to
be reversibly mixed.
After stream 4 transfers heat to the boiler feed in the
feedwater heater, it can either be pumped up to the
boiler pressure and added to the boiler feed as shown
here, or it can be allowed to irreversibly mix with the
condenser feed.
Feedwater inlet
and outlet pipes
in front. On the
side we see the
heater drain
pipes and
throttling
valves.
Schematic of a
Power Plant Running
an Ideal
Regenerative
Rankine Cycle with
One Closed
Feedwater Heater
T-S Diagram of an Ideal
Regenerative Rankine Cycle with
One Closed Feedwater Heater
CFWH vs OFWH
Compared with open feedwater heaters, closed
feedwater heaters are more complex, and thus more
expensive. Since the two streams do not mix in the
heater, closed feedwater heaters do not require a
separate pump for each heater. Most power plants use a
combination of open and closed feedwater heaters.
Materials used in MFG (CFWH)
Processing and testing advancements on the welded and cold
worked tubing developed over the last 65 years offer many
technical and commercial advantages over the seamless product.
Although seamless carbon and alloy steel feedwater heater tubing
is still used, the vast majority of stainless steel feedwater heater
tubing is in the welded, cold-worked, and annealed condition. Even
though the seamless stainless tubing enjoys an ASME Code
advantage of 15% higher stress level allowing a thinner wall, little,
if any, is used in global feedwater heaters. The welded and cold-
worked tube manufacturers have developed standard proprietary
manufacturing processes and testing focused toward feedwater
heater applications that most seamless producers have not
followed.
Seamless vs. Welded and Cold worked
Sample Problem
A steam power plant operates on an ideal reheat-
regenerative Rankine cycle with one open feedwater
heater, one closed feedwater heater, and one reheater.
The fractions of stream extracted from turbines and the
thermal efficiency of the cycle are to be determined.
Assumptions:
All the components in the cycle operate at steady state.
Kinetic and potential energy changes are negligible.
Solution
(1) Determine the fraction of steam extracted from State 6: superheated vapor
the turbines P6= 16 MPa (given)
The enthalpies at various states and the pump work
T6= 600oC (given)
per unit mass of fluid flowing through them can be
determined by using the water tables. h6= 3,569.8 kJ/kg
State1: saturated water s6= 6.6988 kJ/(kg-K)
P1= 10 kPa ( given) State7: superheated vapor
h1= 191.83 kJ/kg P7= 5 MPa (given)
v1= 0.00101 m3/kg s7=s6= 6.6988 kJ/(kg-K)
State 2: compressed water h7= 3,222.4 kJ/kg
P2= 1 MPa (given) State 8: superheated vapor
wpump,in= v1(P2- P1) P8= 5 MPa (given)
= 0.00101(1,000 - 10) = 1.0 kJ/kg T8= 600oC (given)
h2= h1+ wpump,in= 192.83 kJ/kg
h8= 3,665.6 kJ/kg
State 3: saturated water
P3= 1 MPa (given) s8= 7.2731 kJ/(kg-K)
h3= 762.81 kJ/kg State 9: superheated vapor
v3= 0.00113 m3/kg P9= 1 MPa (given)
State 4: compressed water s9=s8= 7.2731 kJ/(kg-K)
P4= 16 MPa (given) h9= 3,138.1 kJ/kg
wpump,in= v3(P4- P3) State 10: saturated mixture
= 0.00113(16,000 - 1,000) = 16.9 kJ/kg P10= 10 kPa (given)
h4= h3+ wpump,in= 762.81+ 16.9 = 779.71 kJ/kg s10=s8= 7.2731 kJ/(kg-K)
State 5: saturated water x8= (s8- sf@10 kPa)/sfg@10 kPa= 88.3%
P5= 16 MPa (given) h = h +xh = 2,304.76 kJ/kg