Power Plant
Engineering
Energy and Power
Both the historical and the present-day civilization of
mankind are closely interwoven with energy, and there is
little reason to doubt but that in the future our existence
will be ever more dependent upon this thing called energy.
Mere existence requires that even an animal produce and
expend it. Until man found ways to utilize energy from
sources outside and beyond physical efforts, his status on
earth was quite animal-like.
Energy: Essential to Life and Progress
Energy was the original stuff of creation. As we
encounter it about us, energy appears in many forms,
but has one thing in common – energy is the ability
to produce dynamic, vital effect.
Energy is associated with physical substance, but is not a substance itself. It shows
itself by the excited, animated state assumed by material which receives energy.
Physical activity
Masses in motion
Wind and Wave
Projectiles and Vehicles
Heat generated from fuels and other sources
Galvanizing into action of an idle electric motor which has been connected to a far
distant source.
Classifications of Energy
Mechanical Work
Heat
Electricity
Radiation
Power
Power is the rate at which energy is produced or consumed
Any physical unit of energy when divided by a unit of time
automatically becomes a unit of power.
However, it is in connection with the mechanical and
electrical forms of energy that the term “ power” is generally
used. The rate of production or consumption of heat energy
and, to a certain extent, of radiation energy is not ordinarily
thought of as power. Power is primarily associated with
mechanical work and electrical energy. Therefore, we will
define power as the rate of flow of energy and state of power
plant is a unit built for the production and delivery of a flow
of mechanical and electrical energy.
Power plant
In common usage, a machine or assemblage of equipment that
produces and delivers a flow of mechanical or electrical energy is
power plant.
Hence, an internal combustion engine is a power plant, a water wheel
is a power plant.
However, what we generally mean by the term is that assemblage of
equipment, permanently located on some chosen site, which receives
raw energy in the form of a substance capable of being operated on in
such a way as to produce electrical energy for delivery from the power
plant.
Sources of energy to make power
1. Fuels
2. Flowing streams of water
3. Ocean tides and waves
4. Wind
5. Solar rays
6. Terrestrial heat
7. Atomic nuclei
1. Fuels
Currently, fuels provide more energy than any other sources listed.
Fuels are substances having sufficient carbon or hydrogen for the
chemical oxidation to produce, exothermically, worth-while
quantities of heat.
The principal fuels are coal, natural gas, and petroleum, and their
derivatives.
2. Flowing Streams of Water
The energy contained in flowing streams of water is a form
of mechanical energy. It may exist as the kinetic energy of a
moving stream or as the potential energy of water at some
elevation with respect to a lower datum level, an example of
which would be the water held behind a dam.
3. Ocean Tides and Waves
There is an enormous amount of energy in waves and in
tides is apparent to anyone who witness these oceanic
phenomena. But here is a case where it is difficult to
harness and control energy, even though it is in a high-grade
form and one which is readily visible, and whose magnitude
is easily appreciated.
4. Winds
Power from the winds has served man for many centuries,
but the total amount of energy generated in this manner is
small. The expense of installation and the variability of
operation have tended to limit use of the windmill to
intermittent services where its variable output has no
serious disadvantage.
Classification of Windmills according to
Heads
1. Multi-bladed turbine wheel ( American type)
2. The high-speed propeller type
3. The rotor
4. The Dutch sail type
Solar Rays
In a few instances the direct rays of the sun have been used to
generate power by absorbing energy first as heat and using the heat
in some type of heat engine.
Only effective during the day and output is handicapped if there is
cloudy weather.
There are some locations in the world where strong solar radiation is
received very regularly
Terrestrial Heat
Natural steam escaped from surface vents in many places
on the Earth. Such natural steam wells suggest the
possibility of tapping terrestrial heat in this forma and using
it for the development of power. Unfortunately, the
locations where the steam-producing substrata seem to be
fairly close to the surface are far removed from centers of
civilization where the power could be usefully employed.
Atomic Nucleus
Fission or Fusion
Background of Power Study
Basic physical quantities describing the state of a fluid substance
1. Pressure, p
2. Volume, v
3. Temperature, t
4. Enthalpy, h
5. Entropy, s
6. Specific heat, c
7. Density, d
8. Internal energy, u
