Applied Thermodynamics

VAPOR POWER CYCLES

Gas power cycles with the possible exception of the Gas turbine cycle are not suitable
for the use of fuels like coal. Since the fuel has to be burnt in the engine cylinder, the
internal combustion cycle cannot use fuels that leave large amounts of refuse in the
combustion chamber. Even in the open Brayton cycle, it is not possible to use coal, because,
the gases after combustion pass into the turbine, and these gases have to be totally free
from abrasive materials like ash. But the Vapor power cycles use a working substance which
does not contact the fuel. So, impurities in the fuel will not affect the working substance or
the machine through which the hot fluid has to pass in doing work. Secondly, in gas power
cycles it is extremely difficult to achieve an isothermal process where as this can be easily
achieved in a vapor power cycle using constant pressure phase change process. Vapor
power cycle has the further advantage that it can use high speed, light weight turbines to
produce work output instead of the bulky reciprocating piston engines that are used in
internal combustion engines. Another advantage of vapor power cycle over the Brayton
cycle is that compression work is very small as to neglect it in comparison with the ne t
work output. But vapor power cycles suffer from poor thermal efficiencies as compared to
gas power cycles. High efficiencies in vapor power cycles can be achieved only by using very
high pressure or super-critical pressure system with multi stage feed water heating and
reheating. Power plants employing vapor power cycles have water as the working
substance, and pressures around 250 bar have to be used to reach the super-critical state,
with temperatures around 600 C. Even under such conditions the overall thermal efficiency
can be as high as 40%, but the life of the equipment will be seriously affected, unless high
quality and expensive materials are used. In Brayton cycle temperatures of the order of
1100 K are reached as the equipment is not subjected to steady high pressure continuously.
In reciprocating engine cycles, even temperatures greater than 2500 K may be reached,
since there is no steady high temperature and pressure maintained during the operation of
the engine.

Cycle efficiency: The thermal efficiency of an ideal cycle is referred to as ideal cycle
efficiency. All real processes however some degree of irreversibility has. By introducing
process efficiencies for real processes, we can find actual cycle efficiency. The ratio of actual

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efficiency to ideal efficiency is called as relative efficiency or efficiency ratio. It is used as a

measure of perfection achieved in the cycle.
Work ratio and back work ratio: - In every cycle there are processes involving both positive
and negative work. The net work in the cycle,
W net = W positive –W negative .
The ratio of network to the positive work of the cycle is called as work ratio.
rw = Work ratio = Wnet / Wpositive

The ratio of W negative to W positive is called as back work ratio.

In case of an actual cycle the irreversibility’s decreases the positive work and
increases the negative work, thus thermal efficiency decreases. A cycle with low work ratio
suffers from the possibility very poor actual cycle efficiency even though the ideal cycle
efficiency may be quite high. These cycles are more sensitive due to irreversibility’s.
A cycle with higher actual efficiency is preferred in practice. A cycle with higher ideal
efficiency and work ratio will have high actual efficiency, and hence lower operating cost.
Steam power cycles: - Since the working substance in vapor power cycle is steam it is called
as steam power cycles. This cycle accounts for most of the installed electric power
generation capacity in the world.
Specific steam consumption or steam rate: - It is defined as the mass flow rate of steam per
unit power developed (kWh). It may be expressed as reciprocal of network.
SSC = 1/Wnet = 3600/Wnet (Kg/kWh)
Higher SSC, greater the size of the plant, thus it governs the capital cost.
Carnot vapor power cycle: - The ideal vapor cycle will be the Carnot cycle comprising of two
reversible isothermal and two reversible adiabatic processes. When the working substance
changes its phase the two isothermal processes are easily attainable by boiling the liquid
and condensing the vapor.
The figure shows a Carnot vapor cycle comprising of all flow processes. The processes are:
Reversible adiabatic compression. WC = (h1 – h2).
Constant pressure and constant temperature heat addition at temperature T H. QH = h3 - h2

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3-4 Reversible adiabatic expansion process. WT = h3 - h4

W net = WT - We = (h3 - h4) - (h2 – h1)

TH
P=C
T
2 3

TL P=C

1 4

Wne (h3  b4 )  (h2  h1)  TL 

thermal = car =  the  1  
HS h3  h2  TH . 

Draw backs of the Carnot vapor power cycle: - It is found that there are many difficulties in
the application of Carnot vapor power cycle. The major difficulties are;
(1) The design and control of a partial condenser, that would terminate condensation at
state-1 is difficult.
(2) It is also difficult to design a compressor to handle a mixture of largely liquid and partly
vapor at state-1 and discharge it as saturated liquid at state 2.
(3) Work of compression is large compared to the work of turbine; hence back work ratio is
large, and low work ratio. Hence actual  is low.
(4) The turbine that takes in saturated steam at state 3 produces exhaust steam at state 4
with low quality. This causes pitting and hence corrosion of turbine

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The Ideal Rankine Cycle (simple vapor power cycle)

Assumptions made in the analysis of Ideal Vapor power cycles:-

(i) The expansion process in the turbine and the compression process in the pump are
isentropic.
(ii) There are no pressure losses in the piping connecting various components as well as in
the heat exchangers like boiler, condenser, re-heaters and feed water heaters.
(iii) Changes in kinetic and potential energies of the working fluid as it flows through the
various components are negligible.
(iv) Fluid flow is steady and one-dimensional.
In a simple Rankine cycle the steam is completely condensed in a condenser and then
pumped to the boiler in the liquid state. The steam can be super heated so as to obtain a
better quality at the end of expansion. This results in increased life of the turbine blade and
SSC decreases. It consists of following processes:
1– 2 Reversible adiabatic pumping of condensed steam
2 – 3 Constant pressure heat addition in the boiler.
3 – 4 Reversible adiabatic expansion process in the turbine.
4– 1 Constant pressure condensation process in the condenser.
For the process 1-2: - Wp = (h2 – h1) = vf1 (P2 – P1) x 100 kJ/kg if P2 and P1 are in bars.
For the process 2-3 : - HS = h3 – h2 kJ/kg

For the process 3-4: - WT = h3 – h4

For the process 4—1: - HR = h4 – h1

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Wnet = WT – WP = (h3 – h4) – (h2 – h1)

 Rankine = Wnet = (h3 – h4) – (h2 – h1)

HS h3 – h2

3600 kg
Specific steam consumption =
Wnet kwh

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Mean temperature of heat rejection: - In a Rankine cycle heat addition is usually takes place
with varying temperature rather than at constant temperature. The average temperature of
heat addition is called as mean temperature of heat addition.

h3  h2
Q1 =h3-h2 = Tm1( s 3-s 2), Therefore Tm1=
s3  s2

Effect of different parameters on Rankine cycle Efficiency

(i) Condenser pressure

(ii) Boiler pressure

(iii) Superheating of steam

(i) Effect of condenser pressure (back pressure): - Consider a simple Rankine cycle 1-2-3-4-1
in which steam is condensing at pressure P4 and temperature of heat rejection for this cycle
is TL = T4 = T1. Now let the exhaust pressure or condenser pressure is lowered to P 4’. The
new Rankine cycle is 11–21-3–41–11.The corresponding temperature of heat rejection
changes to TL1. The thermal  of the new cycle increases due the following reasons.

(i) Area 1 – 2 – 21 – 11 - -41 – 4 – 1, represents net increase in work.

(ii) The increase in work is essentially comes from decrease in heat rejected. It is decreased
by 1 – 4 – 41 – C – 1 and slightly increased by a – c – 11 – a1- a.

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(iii) Heat added slightly increases by area. 2 – 21 – a1 – a. The overall result is increase in
thermal efficiency. Decease in back pressure results in increase in moisture hence life of
the turbine is affected.

(ii) Effect of Boiler Pressure: - When the maximum temperature of the cycle is limited by
metallurgical conditions increasing the boiler pressure can increase the efficiency of the
cycle. When boiler pressure is increased average temperature of heat addition increases,
hence the increases. The increased boiler pressure results in increased work by 2 – 21 – 31 –
c –2 and decrease in work by c – 3 – 4 – 41 – C which are approximately equal hence no
change in Wnet. The heat rejected decrease by 4 – 41 – b1 – b. Since Wnet remains almost
constant QH = Wnet + Q L, the QH decrease. The disadvantage in increasing the boiler pressure
is the quality of steam, which is poor resulting in increased corrosion of turbine blades.

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(iii) Effect of Superheating the Steam: - The super heating results in increase in
average temperature of heat addition and temperature at which heat is rejected remains
constant. Thus, the efficiency with super heating increases.

If the steam is heated above the saturation temperature then it is called superheating.The
superheating results in increase in heat transfer by b – 3 – 31 – b –b1 and increase in heat
rejected also by b – b1 – 41 – 4. The network is done increased by 3 -31 - 41- 4 -3. Thus the

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thermal efficiency increases. The added advantage of superheating is the quality of steam is
improved.

Reheat cycle: -The reheat cycle aims at attaining high thermal efficiency by utilizing high
boiler pressures and super heating, while at the same time eliminating the problem of
excessive moisture content in the exhaust steam by reheating the steam

In a reheat cycle the expansion of the steam

3 takes place in two stages, the high-
pressure stage and low- pressure 2stage. The steam expands in the high-pressure stage to
some intermediate pressure and then reheated in a separate reheat coil approximately to
the original temperature. It then enters the low - pressure stage turbine and expands to the
condenser pressure as usual.

Flow diagram of reheat cycle

Advantages: - Efficiency increases by a small margin but quality of steam improves
considerably and network output increases. The specific steam consumption decreases, and
hence the smaller plant.
Regenerative cycle: - In a simple Rankine cycle significant amount of heat is added for
sensible heating of water, which results in lower thermal  compared to Carnot cycle. The
average temperature of heat addition can be maintained at a higher level by eliminating or
reducing the heat added at lower temperatures. This could be possible by making use of
regenerative cycle.

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The regenerative principle involves taking heat from one part of the cycle and adding
the same in another part. It means the working substance is heated in one part of the cycle
by exchanging heat with the same substance, which gets cooled in another part of the cycle.

Ideal regenerative cycle: - In an ideal regenerative cycle feed water after leaving the pump
is circulated around the turbine casing in counter flow directions compared to expanding
steam. Then heat exchange takes place between water and steam. Water gets heated from
2 to 3 and steam gets cooled along 4 - 51. Heat gained by water is equal to heat lost of
steam. Area 1 – 2 – 3 – 11 is equal to 5 –51 – 4 – 41. The thermal  of an ideal regenerative
cycle is equal to Carnot cycle efficiency.

Problems with ideal regenerative cycle: - The ideal regenerative cycle is impractical since
it is not physically possible to arrange heat transfer between water flowing around the
turbine casing and steam expanding internally. At the same time even if it is possible, heat
transfer could never be reversible. Due to such a regenerative cycle the exhaust steam
quality will be very poor which is most undesirable.
In a practical regenerative cycle nearly the same objective is achieved by heating
feed water with the help of steam extracted or bled from the various intermediate stages of
the turbine. Such an arrangement is called regenerative feed water heating. There are two
types of regenerative feed water heating.
(i) Open feed water heating. (ii) Closed feed water heating.

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In an open feed water heating the extracted steam is mixed with feed water, both
are at same pressure. In a closed feed water heater, there is no mixing and heat exchange
takes place between the two fluids, which can be at different pressures. Thus regenerative
heating helps in improving thermal efficiency.
Open feed water heater

5 1kg.

LPT
HPT

6
m kg. 3 7
4 (1-m) kg

1kg.
2
1

Above fig shows the regenerative feed water heating with one open type heater. Let
1kg of steam leaving the boiler and entering the turbine. Assume “m” kg of s team is
extracted or bled from the turbine at some intermediate pressure P 6. In high pressure
turbine 1kg of steam is expanded and (1-m) kg of steam expands in low-pressure turbine.
In an open feed water heater (1-m) kg of condensed steam at state 2 is mixed with m
kg of bled steam and the resulting saturated fluid is pumped (using a second pump) to the
boiler.
Writing the energy balance equation for FWH, m h6 + (1-m) h2 = h3
mh6 + h2 – m h2 = h3
h3  h2
m[h6 – h2] = h3 – h2 and hence m
h6  h2

qH = h5 – h4 QL = (1 – m1) (h7 – h1)

WT = h5 – h6 + (1 – m1) (h6 – h7) & WP = (1 – m1) (h2 – h1) + (h4 – h3)
WT  W p
Rankine with fwh =Wnet =
HS

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Properties of the ideal working fluid: -The efficiency and SSC of vapor power cycle’s
dependent upon the properties of the working substance. Even though for reasons of cost
and chemical stability steam is always used as working fluid in vapor power cycles its
behavior is far from ideal. The desirable characteristics of an ideal working fluid are
1. The critical temperature should be well above the metallurgical limit. Thus super
heating is not necessary and heating can be done at the highest temperature of the
cycle. The saturation pressure at the metallurgical limit temperature should be
moderate to reduce the capital cost and maintenance costs of the plant.

2. The specific heat capacity of liquid (C PL) should be small or saturation line should be
steep. The heat required to bring the liquid to boiling point will be small.

3. Enthalpy of vaporization should be large so that specific steam consumption (SSC) is

less and hence smaller plant size for a given power output. The specific volume
should be small or density should be large.

4. The saturated vapor line should be steep so that dryness fraction after expansion
can be maintained above 0.9 without going for superheating.

5. The saturation pressure at condenser temperature should be slightly more than

atmospheric, so that no vacuum is necessary in the condenser. This reduces the
leakage of air into condenser.

6. The fluid should be cheap, chemically stable, non-toxic, non-corrosive, non-

inflammable and non-explosive.

No single fluid has been found which posses all the desirable characteristics.
Binary vapor cycle: - Since no single substance posses all the desired properties the
attention has been paid to the benefits, which might follow from using different fluids for
different parts of the temperature range of a cycle. The cycles with two fluids are referred
as binary cycles. The primary fluid is usually steam. The second fluid used at the high
temperature end of the cycle is called as topper fluid and the other used at low temperature
end it is called a bottomer.
Possible plant using mercury as a topper fluid and steam as bottomer fluid is called
Hg – steam binary vapor power cycle. The Hg has a critical temperature well above the

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metallurgical limit of about 6000C. The most of the heat from the external source can be
transferred at maximum temperature of the cycle. The boiler pressure would be about 23
bar at 6000C. The Hg condenser acts as the steam boiler. The two cycles shown are
superimposed on the same T-s diagram. In the binary Hg-Steam cycle, topper cycle consists
of an Hg boiler, a Hg turbine and a Hg condenser. The Hg condenser acts as a steam boiler.
The fluids flow separately in its own circuit. The heat rejected by the Hg is used to boil the
water and resulting steam may be super heated and then expanded in the steam turbine.
The ideal efficiency will be comparatively high. Addition of Hg cycle to the steam cycle
results in a marked increase in mean effective temperature and thus the efficiency
increases. The maximum pressure in the cycle remains at relatively low value.
Assuming 1kg of steam circulated for every “m” kg of Hg circulated in the mercury
circuit and writing energy balance,
m (hB  hC )  (h3  h2 )
h3  h2
m kg of Hg / kg of steam
hB  hC
Wnet  (WT hg  WT steam )  (Wphg  Wpwater )

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HS  m (hA  hD )
WT hg  m(hA  hB ), WP hg  m(hD  hC )
WT steam  (h3  h4 ), WP steam  (h1  h4 )
h3  h2
where m  kg of Hg / kg of steam
hB  hC
Wnet  (WhgT  Wsteam )  (W ph g  W pwater )
Wnet
 binary 
HS

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Problems on Vapor power cycles

1. In a simple Rankine cycle, dry saturated steam at 20 bar expands to a pressure of 1

atmosphere. Determine (i) the pump work, (ii) turbine work, (iii) network output, (iv)
thermal efficiency, (v) quality of steam entering the condenser, and (vi)specific
steam consumption in kg/kWh. What would be the (i) network output, (ii) cycle
efficiency, (iii) specific steam consumption in kg/kWh and (iv) quality of steam
entering the condenser if the condenser pressure is reduced to 0.06 bar and
compare the performance of the two cycles.
2. Compare the performance of simple Rankine cycle with boiler exit steam conditions
of 20 bar and dry saturated with that of another simple Rankine cycle with boiler exit
steam conditions of 30 bar and dry saturated in terms of (i) net work output,(ii) heat
supply, (iii) thermal efficiency, (iv) steam rate and (v) quality of steam entering the
condenser. Assume the condenser pressure to be 0.06 bar for both the cycles
3. In a simple Rankine cycle, steam conditions at the boiler exit are 10 bar and 300 C. In
the pipe line between the boiler exit and turbine inlet, there is an energy loss of 50
kj/kg and a drop in pressure of 0.5 bar. The steam expands in the turbine to a
pressure of 0.09 bar. The isentropic efficiency of the turbine is 0.86 and that of the
pump is 0.70. Determine (i) the condition of steam entering the turbine, (ii) actual
pump work per unit mass of water, (iii) turbine work per unit mass of steam (iv) net
work output and thermal efficiency of the cycle, and (v) quality of steam entering the
condenser.
4. Steam at 15 bar and 2500C is expanded through a turbine to a pressure of 4 bar. It is
then reheated to a temperature of 2000C. It is then expanded to a final pressure of
0.25 bar. Estimate the work done per kg of steam flowing through the turbine and
thermal of efficiency. Also determine the specific steam consumption.

5. In a reheat steam cycle, the boiler exit conditions are 25 bar and 300 0 C. The exit
pressure of steam at the end of first stage is 5 bar. The steam is then reheated to
3000C before expanding in the second turbine to 0.05 bar. Assuming the high and
low pressure turbines to have efficiencies of 87% and85 % respectively, find (i) the

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thermal-energy input in the re-heater, (ii) the cycle efficiency, (iii) specific steam
consumption and (iv) power output for a mass flow rate of 2 kg/s.
6. Steam leaves the boiler and enters the turbine at 45 bar absolute and 450 0C. After
expansion to 4 bar absolute some of the steam is extracted from the turbine for the
purpose of heating the feed water in an open heater. The condenser pressure is 0.25
bar. Determine the mass of steam extracted per kg of steam leaving the boiler and
thermal  of the cycle
7. In a regenerative cycle with open feed water heater, dry saturated steam is supplied
from the boiler at a pressure of 30 bars and condenser pressure is 95.82 kPa. The
steam is bled at a pressure of 2.5 bar. Determine the amount of bled steam per kg of
steam supplied and the efficiency of the cycle. What would be the efficiency without
regenerative feed heating?

8. Steam at 20 bar and 3600C is expanded in a steam turbine to 0.08bar. It then enters
the condensers, where it is condensed to saturated liquid. The pump feeds back the
water into the boiler. (1) Assuming the ideal process find per kg of steam the
network and the cycle efficiency. (Answer: -775kJ/kg, η =26%. (2) If the turbine and
pump have each 80% efficiency, find the percentage reduction in the network and
cycle efficiency. (Answer: - Reduction in work = 20.1 %, reduction in efficiency =
20.1%.)

9. A cyclic steam power plant is to be designed for a steam temperature at turbine inlet
of 3600C and an exhaust pressure of 0.08 bar. After the isentropic expansion of
steam in the turbine, the moisture content at the turbine exhaust is not to exceed
15%. Determine the greatest allowable steam pressure at the turbine inlet, and
calculate the cycle efficiency. Estimate the mean temperature of heat addition.
(Hint: Since the quality of steam at the end of expansion is 0.85, first find out the

entropy of steam at the end of expansion using the relation s4 = sf + x4 sfg, now
equate the entropy s4=s3. Using the absolute value of entropy and temperature
determine the pressure from the steam table or Mollier diagram. Ans: Greatest
pressure = 16.883 bar. Mean temperature of heat addition = 187.50C).

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