S.1 The Basic Steam Cycle: P1.1 Acknowledgements
S.1 The Basic Steam Cycle: P1.1 Acknowledgements
S.1 The Basic Steam Cycle: P1.1 Acknowledgements
P1.1 Acknowledgements
Author: Samuel Roy, KTH, 1999;
Author: Catharina Erlich, KTH, 2005; updated 2006
Reviewer: Catharina Erlich, KTH, 2005
CompEdu support: Vitali Fedulov, KTH, 2005
P1.3 Prerequisites
It is expected that the reader has knowledge about:
Know and understand the limitations for the basic steam cycle.
Be able to make and analysis of the basic steam cycle through its design, T-s & h-s
diagrams and the thermal efficiency.
2
Know the effect of irreversibilities in the pump and steam turbine and be able to
analyze this numerically and illustrative in a T-s or h-s diagram,
3
Longitudinal section at critical Projection of the 3D surface
volume
P4.1 Pump
A pump is a device, which increases the pressure of a liquid.
Pumps can generally not handle liquid-vapor mixtures, only pure liquids.
P4.2 Boiler
The boiler is a component containing a furnace and heat exchangers.
In the furnace coal, oil, gas, biomass, municipal solid waste or any other fuel is
combusted generating a hot flue gas.
This flue gas is heat exchanged with water, so that the pressurized water (from the
pump) is preheated in the so-called economizer.
A special case of boiler is the nuclear reactor, in which the economizer and
evaporator are integrated with the reactor. Thus, this boiler has no furnace. Most
nuclear power plants work with saturated steam, meanwhile all other steam plants
work with superheated steam (see next chapter).
P4.3 Turbine
A turbine is a work-generating machine consisting of a
static part (stator) and a rotating part (rotor).
On the rotor there are angled blades attached, with a
certain size and distance, that are catching up the pressure
and velocity of the working fluid.
The larger the blades and the bigger the distance between
the blades, the lower becomes the pressure of the passing
steam, i.e. the smallest blades are found in the turbine inlet
and the largest in the turbine outlet (opposite direction in a
compressor).
The high pressure and temperature of vapor causes the
rotor to rotate, and thus the vapor looses pressure and
temperature while passing through the turbine (= expands).
5
The rotational movement (mechanical work) is transferred
to electrical energy in a generator.
The steam is expanded down to the pressure held in the
condenser = pressure in the turbine outlet. The steam
leaving the turbine most often wet, i.e. the steam contains a
little amount of liquid.
However to avoid erosion on the turbine blades, the large
fraction has to be in vapor form. The fraction is called
steam quality (see next chapter).
P4.4 Condenser
A condenser is a heat exchanger that brings the
wet steam to liquid form with help of cooling
water from, for example, a lake or a river.
A cold-condenser has a pressure below the
atmospheric one on the steam side, and this
pressure is created with ejectors.
The lower the temperature of the cooling water,
the lower the pressure that can be created by the
ejectors and the more the steam is let to be
expanded in the turbine.
A turbine working with a cold-condenser is
called Condensing turbine/Condensing power
plant.
There are also hot-condensers, where the
cooling media is district heating water or
industrial process water. In this case the
pressure on the steam side is higher than the
atmospheric pressure.
A turbine working with a hot-condenser is called
Backpressure turbine.
Condensing is needed so that the pump is able
to increase the pressure of the working fluid.
6
S.5 T-s and h-s Diagrams for an Ideal Steam Cycle
P5.1 Ideal
Ideal means no irreversibilities through the cycle:
• no frictional pressure drops,
• no heat transfer with the surroundings,
• isentropic (constant entropy, s) compression and expansion.
h1 = cp,liquid · (T – Tref)
7
The specific heat capacity for liquid water is: cp = 4.18 kJ/(kg K) as long as the
water stays in liquid form.
Example:
Saturated liquid water with a pressure of 0.2 bar is pumped to 60 bar. The mass flow
of water is 50 kg/s. Assume that the pump works isentropically. What is the power
input of the pump?
Numerical solution:
Saturated liquid water at 0.2 bar (corresponds to the saturation temperature 60.0°C) is
tabulated in saturation tables* for water: h1 = 251.4 kJ/kg.
It can also be read that the entropy for this state is s1 = 0.8320 kJ/(kg K).
Now increasing the pressure of the saturated liquid , the state will no longer be
saturated: it will be a sub-cooled liquid. Proceeding isentropically, the entropy after
the pump is the same, i.e. s2 = 0.8320 (kJ/kg K). The pressure is 60 bar and with the
value of entropy, in a water/steam table* it can be found that the outlet temperature, t2,
is t2 = 60.3°C and with the pressure and temperature that h2s = 257.5 kJ/kg.
Thus:
Ppump = 50· (257.5 – 251.4) kW = 305 kW
* Interactive table for all properties of water/steam and saturation at different pressures and
temperatures is found in S1B2C6 "Water steam thermodynamic properties"
Example:
8
Water of 60 bar pressure, 60.3°C and 50 kg/s is to be brought to gaseous state
(=saturated steam). Which heating power is needed?
Solution:
Enthalpy of water at 60 bar and 60.3°C is: h2 = 257.5 kJ/kg (from a table).
The boiling temperature at 60 bar is 275.6°C (from a saturation table for water/steam)
and the enthalpy for saturated vapor is h3 = 2785.0 kJ/kg.
For the basic steam cycle the steam goes from saturated vapor form to a mixture
of saturated vapor and saturated liquid at the pressure determined by the
condenser in the turbine outlet.
For the basic steam cycle, the enthalpy h3 is saturated vapor and can be found in
water steam tables.
Example:
Solution:
The enthalpy for steam at 60 bar saturation condition is h3 = 2785.0 kJ/kg (water/steam
table or h-s/T-s diagram). The entropy for steam at this condition is s3 = 5.89 kJ/(kg K).
The expansion takes place isentropically i.e. s4 = s3 = 5.89 kJ/(kg K) down to p4 = 0.2
bar.
Solving the enthalpy graphically in an h-s or T-s diagram is easiest. Starting from h3 =
2785 kJ/kg and p = 60 bar, a straight vertical line (=isentropic) is drawn until
intersected with the 0.2 bar pressure line. Alternatively, knowing the entropy and
9
pressure of state 4 as well gives the enthalpy in the same diagram. The enthalpy h4
can now be read directly.
Observe that state 4 is within the saturation region in the diagram, i.e. state 4 is not
saturated liquid or saturated vapor, rather a mixture between these two conditions.
10
P5.4.1 h-s diagram
The heat lost in the condenser is thus a little bit less than the vaporization heat (as
the vapor is wet).
11
Q& condenser = m& ⋅ (h4 − h1 ) [kg/s · kJ/kg = kW ]
Example:
Wet steam with the enthalpy 1950 kJ/kg enters the condenser at a pressure of 0.2
bars. How much heat is rejected in the condenser if the steam flow is 50kg/s?
Solution:
State 1, i.e. after the condenser (or before the pump) is saturated liquid water thus
h1 = 251.3 kJ/kg (from saturated steam/water tables).
T-s and h-s diagrams with losses in the pump and the turbine
For an irreversible process, the isentropic efficiency is < 1. The lower the
efficiency the larger the irreversibility for the process, i.e. larger increase of
entropy.
P6.1 Pump
12
h2 s − h1 which gives that 1
ηP = WPreal = WPisentropic ⋅
h2 − h1 ηp
P6.2 Turbine
h3 − h4
ηT = which gives that WTreal = WTisentropic ⋅ηT
h3 − h4 s
Remember! For a work-giving device, such as a turbine, the real amount of
work that can be obtained is less than in the ideal case and entropy increases
during the expansion
Example:
A turbine is working with 60 bar saturated steam at 50 kg/s that expands down to 0.2
bar. The isentropic efficiency is 90% for the turbine. What is the power output for the
turbine?
Solution:
Proceed first as in the ideal case. Determine the enthalpy of steam in the turbine inlet
(60bar, saturated steam): h3 = 2785.0 kJ/kg.
Now the real enthalpy in 4 can be calculated from the definition of the isentropic
efficiency. Solving for h4:
h4 = h3 - ηST⋅(h3 – h4s) = 2785 – 0.90⋅(2785 – 1950) kJ/kg = 2033.5 kJ/kg
Observe that for a turbine, the real outlet enthalpy is larger than the isentropic,
resulting in less power output for the real case than for the ideal.
13
S.7 Cycle Net Work and Thermal Efficiency
The net work output is:
W = WT − WP
In the calculation example earlier in this chapter; the pump work was 350 kW,
meanwhile the turbine output for the same steam was 37600 kW with irreversibility
included. Thus:
However, a boiler-efficiency indicates which is the fuel input, i.e. how much
energy must be supplied with the fuel.
In all boilers there are always losses while transferring the heat from the fuel to
the water/steam. For example, the flue gases may need to pass cleaning
equipment and for this need a relative high temperature, thus all heat content
cannot be transferred to the steam.
14
More details about boiler efficiency can be found in the Combustion shelf.
Example:
In a boiler, water of 60 bar pressure and 60.3°C is heated and vaporised to saturated
steam (under constant pressure) with a flow of 50 kg/s. The boiler efficiency is 85%.
What is the fuel input in kW?
Solution:
QB 126375
QFuel = = kW = 148680kW
ηB 0.85
Thus observe that the worse is the boiler efficiency, the more fuel that has to be
supplied.
A steam turbine in a basic steam cycle gives 37 575 kW with a fuel input in the boiler
of 148 680 kW. What is the efficiency?
Solution:
Neglecting the pump work, the net efficiency of the steam cycle is:
37575
η= = 0.253 → 25.3%
148680
This says that in this basic steam cycle, only 25.3 % of the energy available in the fuel
becomes useful work.
S.8 Summary
The basic steam cycle consists of a pump, boiler, turbine and condenser.
15
The prevailing irreversibilities take place in the turbine and pump and are
assessed by the isentropic efficiency of the expansion and compression.
In a steam cycle, pump work can be neglected as pump work << turbine work.
16