Vapour Power Cycles

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.

 In steam power plants water changes into steam and

again steam changes into water in different process.
Similarly in refrigeration process, refrigerant changes its
phase from liquid to vapour and vice versa.

 If such a substance undergoes cyclic process and

generates power, it is known as vapour power cycle.
The most famous vapour power cycles are Carnot cycle
and Rankine cycle.
 Carnot cycle

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)

2) Process 3–4-1: (Reversible isobaric

heating / vaporization – BOILER)

3) Process 1–2: (Reversible adiabatic

expansion - TURBINE)

4) Process 2–3: (Reversible isobaric cooling

/ condensation - CONDENSER)
P-V and T-s diagrams (Rankine cycle)
Simple steam power plant(Rankine cycle)
 Elements of Steam power plant
working on Rankine cycle
 A boiler which generates steam at constant
pressure.
 An engine (or) turbine in which steam
expands isentropically and work is
developed.
 A condenser in which heat is removed from
the exhaust steam and it is completely
converted into water at constant pressure. A
hot well is used to collect the condensate.
 A pump which raises the pressure of the
liquid water to the boiler pressure and
pumps it to boiler for conversion into steam.
Net work done & thermal efficiency of
Rankine cycle
Wnet  Wturbine  W pump  mh3  h4   mh2  h1 

 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

1) Increasing the boiler pressure

2) Decreasing the condenser pressure

3) Superheating the steam

4) Reheating the steam between stages

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.

 With the infinite number of heaters, the heating process

becomes reversible and the efficiency approaches to Carnot
efficiency.

 The supply of feed water to the boiler is at increased

temperature. That reduces the temperature range in the
boiler and keeps thermal stresses low.

 However, the work done per kg of steam decreases and as

such large capacity boiler is needed for a given output.

 The system also becomes complicated, less flexible and

involves greater maintenance and capital cost due to
installation of feed water heaters.
 Binary vapour power cycle
 A cycle works with two working substances producing dual work
but at only one heat supply is called binary vapour power
cycle.

 The heat that is rejected in the condenser can be used to generate

vapors of some other working substances at high pressure to run
another Rankine cycle that produces work.

 To run a binary vapour power cycle, the two working fluids

should have high temperature difference.

 The substance having high boiling point acts as working medium

in topping cycle and the other in bottoming cycle.
 Binary vapour power cycle
 Fluids used:

 Water (@ 12 bar, sat. temperature is 187C)

 Mercury (@ 12 bar, sat. temperature is 560C)

 Di-phenyl ether

 Aluminium bromide (@ 12 bar, sat. temperature is 482.5C)

 Liquid metals like sodium and potassium

 Since critical pressure and temperature of Hg are 1080 bar &

1460C respectively, it is suitable working fluid in topping cycle
Binary vapour power cycle
Binary vapour power cycle
,
Binary vapour power cycle
Heat supplied,
Q1  mHg h2  h1 
Total work done in the cycle,
Wnet  mHg h2  h3   mst h5  h6 
Thermal efficiency of the binary cycle is
Wnet mHg h2  h3   mst h5  h6 
binary  
Q1 mHg h2  h1 
Energy balance equation gives,
mHg h3  h4   mst h5  h9 
Combined efficiency,
 combined  1  1   Hg 1   st 
 Work ratio
It is defined as the ratio of net work
output to the gross turbine work.
Wnet Wturbine  Wpump Wpump
WR    1
Wturbine Wturbine Wturbine
 Effect of irreversibilities on cycle efficiency

Wpump   h2  h1 
  
Ideal work required
 ideal

pump isentropic
Actual work required Wpump   h2'  h1 
actual
 Effect of irreversibilities on cycle efficiency

Actual work developed Wturbineactual h1  h2 ' 

turbineisentropic   
Ideal work developed Wturbineideal h1  h2 
 Requirements for a good working fluid
 Large latent heat of vaporization
 Critical temperature should be well above the metallurgical limit so that
latent heat can be supplied at maximum temperature of the cycle
 The condensation pressure should not be too low so that leakage
problems are minimized
 The freezing point should be below the room temperature to facilitate the
filling and draining of the equipment.
 Highest saturation temperature for a moderate pressure
 Low specific heat
 High density
 Steep saturated vapour line
 Higher saturation pressure than atmospheric pressure at the minimum
cycle temperature
 Non-toxic, non-corrosive and not excessively viscous
 Problem - 1

A basic steam power plant works on ideal Rankine

cycle operating between 30bar and 0.04bar. The initial
condition of steam being dry saturated, calculate
pumping work required, work developed from turbine,
cycle efficiency, work ratio and specific steam
consumption. Assume the flow rate of steam as
10kg/s.
(30.07 kW, 9402.2 kW, 35%, 0.9968, 3.84 kg/kWh)
 Problem - 2

In a Rankine cycle thermal power plant, superheated steam

is supplied at 1.5MPa and 300C to a turbine and expands
to a condenser pressure of 80kPa. The saturated liquid
coming out from condenser is pumped back to the boiler by
a feed pump. Assuming ideal processes, determine the
condition of steam after expansion, cycle efficiency, mean
effective pressure, ideal steam consumption per unit kWh
and actual steam consumption per unit kWh. Take relative
efficiency as 0.6 and neglect pump work.
(0.916, 21.27%, 293.63 kPa, 6.39 kg/kWh, 10.66 kg/kWh)
 Problem - 3

In a reheating cycle, steam at a pressure of 90bar

& 480C is expanded in a steam turbine in first
stage up to 12bar and reheated to its original
temperature before expanding to the condenser
pressure of 0.07bar. If the mass flow rate of
steam is 0.5kg/s, find the power developed and
efficiency neglecting pump work.
(791 kW, 41.76%)
 Problem - 4

In a single heater regenerative cycle, the steam enters

the turbine at 30bar, 400C and exhaust pressure is
0.1bar. The feed water heater is a direct contact type
which operates at 5bar. Find (i)efficiency and steam
rate of cycle (ii)the increase in mean temperature of
heat addition, efficiency and steam rate as compared to
Rankine cycle without regeneration. Neglect pump
work.
((i) 35.36%, 3.93 kg/kWh (ii) 27.4C, 1.18%, 0.476 kg/kWh)
 Problem - 5
A binary vapour plant uses mercury between temperatures 205C
and 540C. The mercury is dry and saturated at high
temperature. The steam cycle works between 17.35bar and
73.66mm of Hg. Steam is supplied to boiler at 370C and feed
water is used at 200C in economizer & is evaporated to dry
steam in the condenser and is superheated by gases. Assume
ideal cycle, find mass of mercury circulated per kg of steam
generated, the work done by mercury and steam per kg
separately and plant efficiency. Use following properties for
mercury.
(9.42 kg/s per kg of steam generated, 1210.47 kW/kg of steam, 1152.7
kW/kg of steam, 66%)

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