UNIT 2

2. Analysis of Steam
Cycles
 Outline
2.1. Introduction

2.2. Rankine cycle

2.3. Reheat cycle

2.4. Regenerative cycle

2.5. Reheat-Regenerative cycle

2.6. Feed- water heaters

 2.INTRODUCTION
Historically ,the first functioning power cycle is steam turbine,

which commonly working water vapour(steam)

The Rankine cycle is an ideal case from the common steam

cycle
Steam power plants constitutes around 80 % of the world’s

electric power generation

Steam cycles used in electrical power plants and in the

production of shaft power in industry are based on the familiar

 COMPONENTS OF A BASIC STEAM CYCLE

A steam power plant continuously converts the energy stored in fossil fuels

(coal, oil, natural gas )or fossil fuels (into shaft work and ultimately into

electricity.
The working fluid is water which is sometimes in the liquid phase and

sometimes in vapour phase during its cycle of operation.

Energy released by the burning of fuel is transferred to water in boiler(B) to

generate steam at a high pressure to produce shaft work, which then expands in

turbine(T) to a low pressure to produce shaft work.

The steam leaving the turbine is condensed into water in the condenser (C)

where the cooling water from a river or sea circulates carrying away the heat

released during condensation.

1. PUMP (P):- compress liquid water at high pressure
2.Boiler(B) :- which is fueled by coal , oil, gas, biomass or nuclear
fission and the pressurized water is heated and vaporized .
3 .Turbine(T):- is utilize Hot and compressed water vapor has high
energy content and regenerating work
4.condenser(C) :-brings the vapor to liquid after the vapor expansion
in the turbine.
 2.1 RANKINE CYCLE
The Ideal Cycle For Vapor Power Cycles
 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 irreversibility .

The simple ideal Rankine cycle.

Energy Analysis of the Ideal Rankine Cycle
Steady-flow energy equation

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
 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.
 Superheating the Steam to High Temperatures (Increases
10
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 temperature is limited by
the steam to higher metallurgical considerations. Presently
temperatures on the ideal the highest steam temperature allowed
Rankine cycle. at the turbine inlet is about 620°C.
 Increasing the Boiler Pressure (Increases Thigh,avg)
11
 For a fixed turbine inlet temperature,
 Today many modern steam
the cycle shifts to the left and the
power plants operate at
moisture content of steam at the turbine
supercritical pressures (P > 22.06
exit increases. This side effect can be
MPa) and have thermal
corrected by reheating the steam.
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.
 2.3. Reheat cycle
2.2.1 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.

 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
The average temperature at
half of that which results from a single
reheat. which heat is transferred
 The reheat temperatures are very close or during reheating increases as
equal to the turbine inlet temperature. the number of reheat stages
 The optimum reheat pressure is about one- is increased.
fourth of the maximum cycle pressure.
 THE IDEAL REGENERATIVE RANKINE CYCLE 14
 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
relatively low temperatures. exchanger where heat is transferred from
the steam to the feedwater either by mixing
the two fluid streams (open feedwater
heaters) or without mixing them (closed
feedwater heaters).
Open Feedwater Heaters
15
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.

 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 .

 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.
 Open feedwater
A steam power plant with one heaters are simple
open and three closed feedwater and inexpensive and
heaters. 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.
 SECOND-LAW ANALYSIS OF VAPOR POWER
CYCLES
Energy destruction for a steady-flow system

Steady-flow, one-
inlet, 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

 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 200°C. Energy is usually transferred to the steam by burning coal, oil,
natural gas, or another fuel in a furnace.
 Industries that use large amounts of
process heat also consume a large
amount of electric power.
 It makes sense to use the already-
existing 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)

A simple process-heating plant.

Cogeneration: The production of more than one useful form of energy (such as
process heat and electric power) from the same energy source.
 20

Utilization factor

 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.

An ideal cogeneration plant.

  At times of high demand for process
heat, all the steam is routed to the21
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 pressure-reducing 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.
A cogeneration plant with  When there is no demand for process
adjustable loads. 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.
 COMBINED GAS–VAPOR 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 gas–vapor 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
high-temperature exhaust gases as the energy source for the bottoming cycle
such as a steam power cycle. The result is a combined gas–steam 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.
 23

Combined gas–steam power plant.

 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 gas–vapor power cycles
 IDEAL RANKINE CYCLE
• Energy analysis: steady flow process, no generation, neglect KE
and PE changes for all four devices,
• 0 = (net heat transfer in) - (net work out) + (net energy flow in)
• 0 = (qin - qout) - (Wout - Win) + (hin - hout)

T 3 • 1-2: Pump (q=0)

 Wpump = h2 - h1 = v(P2-P1)

2 • 2-3: Boiler (W=0)  qin = h3 - h2

1 4
• 3-4: Turbine (q=0)  Wout = h3 - h4
s

Thermal efficiency h = Wnet•/q4-1: Condenser (W=0)  qout =-hh4) - h1

in = 1 - qout/qin = 1 - (h4-h1)/(h 3 2
Wnet = Wout - Win = (h3-h4) - (h2-h1)
 Qin EXAMPLE 2.1
2 3
boiler Wout
Turbine  Consider the Rankine power
Win cycle as shown. Steam enters
pump
the turbine as 100% saturated
condenser vapor at 6 MPa and saturated
1 4 liquid enters the pump at a
pressure of 0.01 MPa. If the
Qout net power output of the cycle
T is 50 MW. Determine (a) the
thermal efficiency, (b) the
3
mass flow rate of the system, (
c) the rate of heat transfer
2 into the boiler, (d) the mass
flow rate of the cooling water
1 4
s from the condenser, in kg/s, if
the cooling water enters at
20°C and exits at 40°C.
 SOLUTION
 At the inlet of turbine, P3=6MPa, 100% saturated vapor x3=1,
from saturated table B.1.2 , h3=hg=2784.3(kJ/kg),
s3=sg=5.89(kJ/kg K)
 From 3-4, isentropic expansion: s3=s4=5.89 (kJ/kg K)
 From 4-1, isothermal process, T4=T1=45.8°C (why?)
 From table B 1.2, when T4=45.8°C, sf4=0.6491, sfg4=7.5019,
hf4=191.8, hfg4=2392.8
 x4 = (s4-sf4)/sfg4 = (5.89-0.6491)/7.5019 = 0.699
 h4 = hf4+x4* hfg4 = 191.8+0.699(2392.8) = 1864.4 (kJ/kg)
 At the inlet of the pump: saturated liquid h1=hf1=191.8
 qout = h4-h1=1672.6(kJ/kg)
 At the outlet of the pump: compressed liquid
v2=v1=vf1=0.00101(m3/kg)
 work input to pump Win = h2-h1 = v1 (P2-P1) = 0.00101(6000-10) =
6.05
h2 = h1 + v1 (P2-P1) =191.8 + 6.05 = 197.85 (kJ/kg)
 SOLUTION (CONT.)
(a) The thermal efficiency h = 1-qout/qin= 1-
1672.6/2586.5=0.353=35.3%
(b) Net work output dW/dt=50MW=(dm/dt)(Wout-Win)=(dm/dt)
((h3-h4)-(h2-h1))
mass flow rate (dm/dt)=50000/((2784.3- 1864.4 )-(197.85-
191.8))=54.7(kg/s)
( c) heat transfer into the boiler qin = (dm/dt)(h3-
h2)=54.7(2586.5)=141.5(MW)
(d) Inside the condenser, the cooling water is being heated from
the heat transfered from the condensing steam.
q cooling water = qout = (dm/dt)(h4-h1) = 54.7(1672.6) = 91.49
(MW)
(dm/dt)cooling water Cp (Tout - Tin) = q cooling water
C p, water = 4.177(kJ/kg K)
(dm/dt)cooling water = 91490/(4.177*(40-20)) = 1095.2 (kg/s)
Very large amount of cooling water is needed 
 EXAMPLE 2.2

• Steam at 40bar ,500 oc flowing at the rate of 5500kg/h expands in a

h.p(high pressure ) turbine to 2 bar with an isentropic efficiency of
83%. A continuous supply of steam at 2bar,0.87 quality and a flow rate
of 2700 kg/h is available from a geothermal energy source. This steam
is mixed adiabatically with the h.p turbine exhaust steam and the
combined flow then expands in L.p turbine to 0.1bar with an isentropic
effiency of 78%.Determine the power output and the thermal effiency
of the plant. Assume that 5500kg/h of steam is generated in the boiler
at 40 bar,500 oc from the saturated feedwater at 0.1 bar.

• Had the geothermal steam not been added, what would have been the
power out and efficiency of the plant ?neglect pump.
THE END!