Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach, 6th Edition

Yunus A. Cengel, Michael A. Boles

McGraw-Hill, 2008

Chapter 10
VAPOR AND COMBINED
POWER CYCLES
Wan Rosli Wan Sulaiman
Copyright The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Objectives
Evaluate the performance of gas power cycles for
which the working fluid remains a gas throughout the
entire cycle.
Analyze vapor power cycles in which the working fluid
is alternately vaporized and condensed.
Analyze power generation coupled with process
heating called cogeneration.
Investigate ways to modify the basic Rankine vapor
power cycle to increase the cycle thermal efficiency.
Analyze the reheat and regenerative vapor power
cycles.
Analyze power cycles that consist of two separate
cycles known as combined cycles and binary cycles.
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THE CARNOT VAPOR CYCLE

The Carnot cycle is the most efficient cycle operating between two specified temperature
limits but it is not a suitable model for power cycles. Because:
Process 1-2 Limiting the heat transfer processes to two-phase systems severely limits the
maximum temperature that can be used in the cycle (374C for water)
Process 2-3 The turbine cannot handle steam with a high moisture content because of the
impingement of liquid droplets on the turbine blades causing erosion and wear.
Process 4-1 It is not practical to design a compressor that handles two phases.
The cycle in (b) is not suitable since it requires isentropic compression to extremely
high pressures and isothermal heat transfer at variable pressures.

1-2 isothermal heat

addition in a boiler
2-3 isentropic expansion
in a turbine
3-4 isothermal heat
rejection in a condenser
4-1 isentropic
compression in a
compressor
T-s diagram of two Carnot vapor cycles.

RANKINE CYCLE: THE IDEAL CYCLE

FOR VAPOR POWER CYCLES
Many of the impracticalities associated with the Carnot cycle can be eliminated
by superheating the steam in the boiler and condensing it completely in the
condenser. The cycle that results is the Rankine cycle, which is the ideal cycle
for vapor power plants. The ideal Rankine cycle does not involve any internal
irreversibilities.

The simple ideal Rankine cycle.

Energy Analysis of the Ideal Rankine Cycle

Steady-flow energy equation

The efficiency of power plants in

the U.S. is often expressed in
terms of heat rate, which is the
amount of heat supplied, in Btus,
to generate 1 kWh of electricity.

The thermal efficiency can be interpreted

as the ratio of the area enclosed by the
cycle on a T-s diagram to the area under
the heat-addition process.
5

DEVIATION OF ACTUAL VAPOR POWER

CYCLES FROM IDEALIZED ONES
The actual vapor power cycle differs from the ideal Rankine cycle as a
result of irreversibilities in various components.
Fluid friction and heat loss to the surroundings are the two common sources
of irreversibilities.
Isentropic efficiencies

(a) Deviation of actual vapor power cycle from the ideal Rankine cycle.
(b) The effect of pump and turbine irreversibilities on the ideal Rankine cycle.

HOW CAN WE INCREASE THE EFFICIENCY OF THE

RANKINE CYCLE?
The basic idea behind all the modifications to increase the thermal efficiency
of a power cycle is the same: Increase the average temperature at which heat is
transferred to the working fluid in the boiler, or decrease the average
temperature at which heat is rejected from the working fluid in the condenser.

Lowering the Condenser Pressure (Lowers Tlow,avg)

To take advantage of the increased
efficiencies at low pressures, the condensers
of steam power plants usually operate well
below the atmospheric pressure. There is a
lower limit to this pressure depending on the
temperature of the cooling medium
Side effect: Lowering the condenser
pressure increases the moisture content of
the steam at the final stages of the turbine.
The effect of lowering the
condenser pressure on the
ideal Rankine cycle.
7

Superheating the Steam to High Temperatures

(Increases Thigh,avg)

Both the net work and heat input

increase as a result of superheating
the steam to a higher temperature.
The overall effect is an increase in
thermal efficiency since the average
temperature at which heat is added
increases.
Superheating to higher temperatures
decreases the moisture content of the
steam at the turbine exit, which is
desirable.

The effect of superheating the

steam to higher temperatures
on the ideal Rankine cycle.

The temperature is limited by

metallurgical considerations. Presently
the highest steam temperature allowed
at the turbine inlet is about 620C.
8

Increasing the Boiler Pressure (Increases Thigh,avg)

For a fixed turbine inlet temperature,
the cycle shifts to the left and the
moisture content of steam at the
turbine exit increases. This side
effect can be corrected by reheating
the steam.

Today many modern steam power

plants operate at supercritical
pressures (P > 22.06 MPa) and
have thermal efficiencies of about
40% for fossil-fuel plants and 34%
for nuclear plants.

The effect of increasing the boiler

pressure on the ideal Rankine cycle.

A supercritical Rankine cycle.

9

THE IDEAL REHEAT RANKINE CYCLE

How can we take advantage of the increased efficiencies at higher boiler pressures
without facing the problem of excessive moisture at the final stages of the turbine?
1. Superheat the steam to very high temperatures. It is limited metallurgically.
2. Expand the steam in the turbine in two stages, and reheat it in between (reheat)

The ideal reheat Rankine cycle.

10

The single reheat in a modern power

plant improves the cycle efficiency by 4 to
5% by increasing the average
temperature at which heat is transferred
to the steam.
The average temperature during the
reheat process can be increased by
increasing the number of expansion and
reheat stages. As the number of stages is
increased, the expansion and reheat
processes approach an isothermal
process at the maximum temperature.
The use of more than two reheat stages
is not practical. The theoretical
improvement in efficiency from the
second reheat is about half of that which The average temperature at which
heat is transferred during
results from a single reheat.
reheating increases as the
The reheat temperatures are very close
number of reheat stages is
or equal to the turbine inlet temperature.
increased.
The optimum reheat pressure is about
one-fourth of the maximum cycle
pressure.
11

THE IDEAL REGENERATIVE RANKINE CYCLE

Heat is transferred to the working fluid
during process 2-2 at a relatively low
temperature. This lowers the average
heat-addition temperature and thus the
cycle efficiency.
In steam power plants, steam is extracted
from the turbine at various points. This
steam, which could have produced more
work by expanding further in the turbine, is
used to heat the feedwater instead. The
device where the feedwater is heated by
regeneration is called a regenerator, or a
feedwater heater (FWH).
The first part of the heat-addition
A feedwater heater is basically a heat
process in the boiler takes place at exchanger where heat is transferred from
relatively low temperatures.
the steam to the feedwater either by
mixing the two fluid streams (open
feedwater heaters) or without mixing them
(closed feedwater heaters).
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Open Feedwater Heaters

An open (or direct-contact) feedwater
heater is basically a mixing chamber,
where the steam extracted from the
turbine mixes with the feedwater exiting
the pump. Ideally, the mixture leaves
the heater as a saturated liquid at the
heater pressure.

The ideal regenerative Rankine cycle with an open feedwater heater.

13

Closed Feedwater Heaters

Another type of feedwater heater frequently used in steam power plants is
the closed feedwater heater, in which heat is transferred from the
extracted steam to the feedwater without any mixing taking place. The two
streams now can be at different pressures, since they do not mix.

The ideal regenerative Rankine cycle with a closed feedwater heater.

14

The closed feedwater heaters are more complex because of the internal tubing
network, and thus they are more expensive. Heat transfer in closed feedwater
heaters is less effective since the two streams are not allowed to be in direct contact.
However, closed feedwater heaters do not require a separate pump for each heater
since the extracted steam and the feedwater can be at different pressures.
A steam power plant with one open
and three closed feedwater heaters.

Open feedwater
heaters are simple
and inexpensive
and have good
heat transfer
characteristics. For
each heater,
however, a pump is
required to handle
the feedwater.
Most steam power
plants use a
combination of
open and closed
feedwater heaters.

15

SECOND-LAW ANALYSIS OF VAPOR

POWER CYCLES
Exergy destruction for a steady-flow system

Steady-flow, oneinlet, one-exit

Exergy destruction of a cycle
For a cycle with heat transfer
only with a source and a sink
Stream exergy

A second-law analysis of vaporpower cycles reveals where the

largest irreversibilities occur and where to start improvements.
16

COGENERATION
Many industries require energy input in the form of heat, called process
heat. Process heat in these industries is usually supplied by steam at 5 to
7 atm and 150 to 200C. Energy is usually transferred to the steam by
burning coal, oil, natural gas, or another fuel in a furnace.

A simple process-heating plant.

Industries that use large amounts

of process heat also consume a
large amount of electric power.
It makes sense to use the alreadyexisting work potential to produce
power instead of letting it go to
waste.
The result is a plant that produces
electricity while meeting the
process-heat requirements of
certain industrial processes
(cogeneration plant)

Cogeneration: The production of more than one useful form of energy

(such as process heat and electric power) from the same energy source.
17

Utilization
factor

An ideal cogeneration plant.

The utilization factor of the

ideal steam-turbine
cogeneration plant is
100%.

Actual cogeneration plants

have utilization factors as
high as 80%.

Some recent cogeneration

plants have even higher
utilization factors.
18

A cogeneration plant with

adjustable loads.

At times of high demand for process heat, all

the steam is routed to the process-heating units
and none to the condenser (m7= 0). The waste
heat is zero in this mode.
If this is not sufficient, some steam leaving the
boiler is throttled by an expansion or pressurereducing valve to the extraction pressure P6 and
is directed to the process-heating unit.
Maximum process heating is realized when all
the steam leaving the boiler passes through the
PRV (m5= m4). No power is produced in this
mode.
When there is no demand for process heat, all
the steam passes through the turbine and the
condenser (m5=m6=0), and the cogeneration
plant operates as an ordinary steam power
plant.

19

COMBINED GASVAPOR POWER CYCLES

The continued quest for higher thermal efficiencies has resulted in rather
innovative modifications to conventional power plants.

A popular modification involves a gas power cycle topping a vapor power cycle,
which is called the combined gasvapor cycle, or just the combined cycle.

The combined cycle of greatest interest is the gas-turbine (Brayton) cycle topping
a steam-turbine (Rankine) cycle, which has a higher thermal efficiency than
either of the cycles executed individually.

It makes engineering sense to take advantage of the very desirable

characteristics of the gas-turbine cycle at high temperatures and to use the hightemperature exhaust gases as the energy source for the bottoming cycle such as
a steam power cycle. The result is a combined gassteam cycle.

Recent developments in gas-turbine technology have made the combined gas

steam cycle economically very attractive.

The combined cycle increases the efficiency without increasing the initial cost
greatly. Consequently, many new power plants operate on combined cycles, and
many more existing steam- or gas-turbine plants are being converted to
combined-cycle power plants.

Thermal efficiencies over 50% are reported.

20

Combined gassteam power plant.

21

Summary
The Carnot vapor cycle
Rankine cycle: The ideal cycle for vapor power cycles
Energy analysis of the ideal Rankine cycle

Deviation of actual vapor power cycles from idealized ones

How can we increase the efficiency of the Rankine cycle?
Lowering the condenser pressure (Lowers Tlow,avg)
Superheating the steam to high temperatures (Increases Thigh,avg)
Increasing the boiler pressure (Increases Thigh,avg)

The ideal reheat Rankine cycle

The ideal regenerative Rankine cycle
Open feedwater heaters
Closed feedwater heaters

Second-law analysis of vapor power cycles

Cogeneration
Combined gasvapor power cycles
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