Rankine Cycle

Reading 9-2 9-7 Problems 9-16, 9-23, 9-30, 9-38, 9-43, 9-84

Denitions
working uid is alternately vaporized and condensed as it recirculates in a closed cycle water is typically used as the working uid because of its low cost and relatively large value of enthalpy of vaporization the standard vapour cycle that excludes internal irreversibilities is called the Ideal Rankine Cycle

the condensation process is allowed to proceed to completion between state points 4 1 provides a saturated liquid at 1 the water at state point 1 can be conveniently pumped to the boiler pressure at state point 2 but the water is not at the saturation temperature corresponding to the boiler pressure heat must be added to change the water at 2 to saturated water at a when heat is added at non-constant temperature (between 2 a), the cycle efciency will decrease

Analyze the Process

Assume steady ow, KE = P E = 0. From a 1st law balance, we know energy in = energy out

Device Boiler Turbine Condenser Pump

1st Law Balance h2 + qH = h3 h3 = h4 + wT h4 = h1 + qL h1 + wP = h2 qH = h3 h2 wT = h3 h4 qL = h4 h1 wP = h2 h1 (in) (out) (out) (in)

The net work output is given as wT wp = (h3 h4 ) (h2 h1 ) = (h3 h4 ) + (h1 h2 )

The net heat supplied to the boiler is qH = (h3 h2 ) The Rankine efciency is net work output heat supplied to the boiler (h3 h4 ) + (h1 h2 ) (h3 h2 )

R = =

If we consider the uid to be incompressible (h2 h1 ) = v (P2 P1 ) Since the actual process is irreversible, an isentropic efciency can be dened such that Expansion process Isentropic efciency = actual work isentropic work isentropic work actual work

Compression process

Isentropic efciency

Both isentropic efciencies will have a numerical value between 0 and 1.

Effects of Boiler and Condenser Pressure

We know the efciency is proportional to TL TH

The question is how do we increase efciency TL and/or TH . 1. INCREASED BOILER PRESSURE:

an increase in boiler pressure results in a higher TH for the same TL , therefore . but 4 has a lower quality than 4 wetter steam at the turbine exhaust 3

 results in cavitation of the turbine blades plus maintenance quality should be > 90% at the turbine exhaust 2. LOWER TL : we are generally limited by the T ER (lake, river, etc.) eg. lake @ 15 C + T = 10 C = 25 C
resistance to HT

Psat = 3.2 kP a. this is why we have a condenser the pressure at the exit of the turbine can be less than atmospheric pressure the closed loop of the condenser allows us to use treated water on the cycle side but if the pressure is less that atmospheric pressure, air can leak into the condenser, preventing condensation

3. INCREASED TH BY ADDING SUPERHEAT: the average temperature at which heat is supplied in the boiler can be increased by superheating the steam dry saturated steam from the boiler is passed through a second bank of smaller bore tubes within the boiler until the steam reaches the required temperature The advantage is Wnet overall = QH The value of T H , the mean temperature at which heat is added, increases, while TL remains constant. Therefore the efciency increases. the quality of the turbine exhaust increases, hopefully where x > 0.9 with sufcient superheating the turbine exhaust can fall in the superheated region.

Rankine Cycle with Reheat

the wetness at the exhaust of the turbine should be no greater that 10% - this can result in physical erosion of the turbine blades but high boiler pressures are required for high efciency - tends to lead to a high wetness ratio to improve the exhaust steam conditions, the steam can be reheated with the expansion carried out in two steps

High Pressure Turbine

Low Pressure Turbine

Q RH QH

Steam Generator

Q RH QH

WT

QL
Condenser

WP

Pump

the temperature of the steam entering the turbine is limited by metallurgical constraints modern boilers can handle up to 30 M P a and a maximum temperature of Tmax 650 C . newer materials, such as ceramic blades can handle temperatures up to 750 C . 5

Rankine Cycle with Regeneration

Carnot cycle has efciency: = 1 TL /TH add QH at as high a TH as possible reject QL at as low a TL as possible the Rankine cycle can be used with a Feedwater Heater to heat the high pressure sub-cooled water at the pump exit to the saturation temperature most of the heat addition (QH ) is done at high temperature

Feedwater Heaters
There are two different types of feedwater heaters 1. OPEN FWH: the streams mix high temperature steam with low temperature water at constant pressure 2. CLOSED FWH: a heat exchanger is used to transfer heat between the two streams but the streams do not mix. The two streams can be maintained at different pressures.

1. OPEN FWH: working uid passes isentropically through the turbine stages and pumps steam enters the rst stage turbine at state 1 and expands to state 2 - where a fraction of the total ow is bled off into an open feedwater heater at P2 the rest of the steam expands into the second stage turbine at state point 3 - this portion of the uid is condensed and pumped as a saturated liquid to the FWH at P2 a single mixed stream exists the FWH at state point 6

Analysis: we must determine the mass ow rates through each of the components. By performing an mass balance over the turbine 3=m 1 m 2+m (1)

If we normalize Eq. (1) with respect the total mass ow rate m 1 m 2 m 1 + m 3 m 1 =1 (2)

Let the ow at state point 2 be y= Therefore m 3 m 1 =1y (3) m 2 m 1

Assuming no heat loss at the FWH, establish an energy balance across the FWH yh2 + (1 y )h5 = 1 h6

y= and

h6 h5 h2 h5

m 2 m 1

1y =

m 3 m 1

2. CLOSED FWH: two variations exist (a) pump the condensate back to the high pressure line

(b)

a steam trap is inserted in the condensed steam line that allows only liquid to pass liquid is passed to a low pressure region such as the condenser or a low pressure heater

the incoming feedwater does not mix with the extracted steam both streams ow separately through the heater the two streams can have different pressures

Other Topics
IDEAL RANKINE CYCLE:

too expensive to build requires multiple reheat and regeneration cycles approaches Carnot efciency TOPPING CYCLE (BINARY CYCLE): involves two Rankine cycles running in tandem with different working uids such as mercury and water why: typically a boiler will supply energy at 1300 1400 C but Tcritical for water is 374.14 C most energy is absorbed below this temperature high T between the boiler source and the water leads to a major source of irreversibilities Tcritical for mercury is about 1500 C no need for superheating combine the large enthalpy of evaporation of water at low temperatures with the advantages of mercury at high temperatures in addition, the mercury dome leads to a high quality at the exit of the turbine