EAT223 Thermofluids and Engines
The Rankine Cycle
Summary
■ Introduction
■ Ideal cycle
■ Problems to solve
Introduction I
■ Power generation is an important application area of thermodynamics.
■ Earlier we looked at a Carnot cycle steam plant:
a b T
Boiler
T1 a b
Feed pump Wf/p Wnet
Turbine
T2
d c
Condenser s
d c
In the diagram above:
■ At a and b, water/steam is on saturation curve.
■ At c and d, it is in the saturated liquid-vapour (wet) region.
Introduction II
■ Unfortunately, in a real steam power plant, the Carnot cycle is not practical for
various reasons, such as:
■ Isentropic compression/expansion is not possible.
■ The condition of the steam at exit from the turbine is too wet. This would
cause erosion of the turbine blades.
■ The condensation process cannot be easily stopped before completion.
■ A more realistic cycle – one that is widely used in power generation (and steam
engines!) – is the Rankine cycle.
■ The impracticalities associated with Carnot cycle can be eliminated by:
■ Superheating the steam in the boiler.
■ Condensing it completely in the condenser.
■ Note that the ideal Rankine cycle does not involve any internal irreversibilities.
Ideal Rankine cycle
■ The ideal Rankine cycle consists of the following four processes:
■ 1 – 2: Isentropic compression in pump (compressors)
■ 2 – 3: Constant pressure heat addition in boiler
■ 3 – 4: Isentropic expansion in turbine
■ 4 – 1: Constant pressure heat rejection in a condenser
■ KE/PE changes are assumed to be negligible
Ideal Rankine cycle
Notes
■ Water enters the pump at state 1 as saturated liquid and is compressed
isentropically to the operating pressure of the boiler. Vertical distance 1-2 is
exaggerated for clarity.
■ Water enters the boiler as a compressed liquid at state 2 and leaves as a
superheated vapour at state 3. Heat (from combustion gases, nuclear reactor, or
whatever) is transferred at constant pressure. The boiler + superheater is known
as the steam generator.
■ Superheated vapour at state 3 enters the turbine, where it expands
isentropically and produces work by rotating the shaft connected to an electric
generator. The pressure and temperature drop to the values at state 4.
■ Steam is condensed at constant pressure in the condenser. This is basically a
large heat exchanger, where heat is rejected to a cooling medium such as a lake,
river, or the atmosphere.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5cpJwiF0 http://www.youtube.com/watc
u4 h?v=17wokE7XKnI
Energy analysis
qin
2 3
Boiler
wpump, in Feed pump Wf/p wturbine, out
Turbine
Condenser
1 4
qout
■ The steady flow equations per unit mass of steam reduce to:
wturbine,out h3 h4
w pump,in h2 h1 vP2 P1 h1 h f @ P1 v v1 v f @ P1
qin h3 h2 qout h4 h1
Thermal efficiency
■ The thermal efficiency of the Rankine cycle is defined as follows:
wnet qout
th 1
qin qin
where : wnet qin qout wturbine,out wpump,in
■ We will now put these equations into practice by trying an example!
Example
■ A steam power plant operates on an ideal Rankine cycle. Steam enters the
turbine at 3 MPa and 350 C and is condensed in the condenser at a pressure of
75 kPa. Determine the thermal efficiency of the cycle and the Carnot efficiency.
[25.6%, 41.4%]
■ Hint: you can find it knowing = wnet/qin, or = 1 – (qout/qin).
■ In the former, wnet = wturb,out – wpump,in = (h3 – h4) – v1(P2 – P1)
■ Also, qout = h4 – h1, and qin = h3 – h2. We need to find x4.
T-s diagram for previous example
■ Try using CyclePad to simulate the previous example.
■ You should end up with a T-s diagram that looks like this:
Another example
■ A steam power plant operates between pressure limits of 30 bar and 0.05 bar.
The highest temperature is 500 C. Determine the thermal efficiency of the plant
and the Carnot efficiency. [37.4% 60.4%]
wturbine,out h3 h4 w pump,in h2 h1 vP2 P1 qin h3 h2
h1 h f @ P1 v v1 v f @ P1 qout h4 h1
wnet q
th 1 out
qin qin
Final Question
■ A steam power station operates on the Rankine cycle and has a boiler pressure
of 28 bar and a condenser pressure of 0.035 bar. The steam temperature at exit
from the boiler is 300 C. Calculate the cycle efficiency and the Carnot efficiency.
[35.4 %; 47.7 %]
