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Tutorial Sheet 5

This document contains 20 practice problems related to thermodynamics concepts like efficiency, heat transfer rates, and COP calculations for systems like power plants, engines, refrigerators, heat pumps, and heat engines. The problems cover topics such as determining efficiency given heat input and power output, fuel or heat consumption rates, heat transfer between systems and their environments, and maximum potential efficiency for different systems.

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Syed Yousufuddin
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101 views

Tutorial Sheet 5

This document contains 20 practice problems related to thermodynamics concepts like efficiency, heat transfer rates, and COP calculations for systems like power plants, engines, refrigerators, heat pumps, and heat engines. The problems cover topics such as determining efficiency given heat input and power output, fuel or heat consumption rates, heat transfer between systems and their environments, and maximum potential efficiency for different systems.

Uploaded by

Syed Yousufuddin
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ME 203: Thermodynamics I

Tutorial Sheet - 5

1) A 600-MW steam power plant, which is cooled by a nearby river, has a thermal efficiency of 40
percent. Determine the rate of heat transfer to the river water. Will the actual heat transfer rate be higher
or lower than this value? Why?

2) A steam power plant with a power output of 150 MW consumes coal at a rate of 60 tons/h. If the
heating value of the coal is 30,000 kJ/kg, determine the overall efficiency of this plant. Answer: 30.0
percent

3) A car engine with a power output of 110 hp has a thermal efficiency of 28 percent. Determine the rate
of fuel consumption if the heating value of the fuel is 19,000 Btu/lbm.

4) A steam power plant with a power output of 150 MW consumes coal at a rate of 60 tons/h. If the
heating value of the coal is 30,000 kJ/kg, determine the overall efficiency of this plant. Answer: 30.0
percent

5) An automobile engine consumes fuel at a rate of 28 L/h and delivers 60 kW of power to the wheels. If
the fuel has a heating value of 44,000 kJ/kg and a density of 0.8 g/cm3, determine the efficiency of this
engine. Answer: 21.9 percent

6) In 2001, the United States produced 51 percent of its electricity in the amount of 1.878 1012 kWh
from coalfired power plants. Taking the average thermal efficiency to be 34 percent, determine the
amount of thermal energy rejected by the coal-fired power plants in the United States that year.

7) A coal-burning steam power plant produces a net power of 300 MW with an overall thermal
efficiency of 32 percent. The actual gravimetric air–fuel ratio in the furnace is calculated to be 12 kg
air/kg fuel. The heating value of the coal is 28,000 kJ/kg. Determine (a) the amount of coal consumed
during a 24-hour period and (b) the rate of air flowing through the furnace.
Answers: (a) 2.89 106 kg, (b) 402 kg/s

8) A heat pump that is used to heat a house has a COP of 2.5. That is, the heat pump delivers 2.5 kWh of
energy to the house for each 1 kWh of electricity it consumes. Is this a violation of the first law of
thermodynamics? Explain.

9) A household refrigerator with a COP of 1.2 removes heat from the refrigerated space at a rate of 60
kJ/min. Determine
(a) the electric power consumed by the refrigerator and
(b) the rate of heat transfer to the kitchen air.
Answers:(a) 0.83 kW, (b) 110 kJ/min

10) An air conditioner removes heat steadily from a house at a rate of 750 kJ/min while drawing electric
power at a rate of 6 kW. Determine (a) the COP of this air conditioner and (b) the rate of heat transfer to
the outside air.
Answers:(a) 2.08, (b) 1110 kJ/min
11) A household refrigerator runs one-fourth of the time and removes heat from the food compartment at
an average rate of 800 kJ/h. If the COP of the refrigerator is 2.2, determine the power the refrigerator
draws when running.

12) A household refrigerator that has a power input of 450 W and a COP of 2.5 is to cool five large
watermelons, 10 kg each, to 8°C. If the watermelons are initially at 20°C, determine how long it will
take for the refrigerator to cool them. The watermelons can be treated as water whose specific heat is 4.2
kJ/kg · °C. Is your answer realistic or optimistic? Explain. Answer: 2240 s

13) When a man returns to his well-sealed house on a summer day, he finds that the house is at 32°C.
He turns on the air conditioner, which cools the entire house to 20°C in 15 min. If the COP of the air-
conditioning system is 2.5, determine the power drawn by the air conditioner. Assume the entire mass
within the house is equivalent to 800 kg of air for which cv = 0.72 kJ/kg · °C and cp = 1.0 kJ/kg · °C.

14) Determine the COP of a heat pump that supplies energy to a house at a rate of 8000 kJ/h for each
kW of electric power it draws. Also, determine the rate of energy absorption from the outdoor air.
Answers: 2.22, 4400 kJ/h

15) A heat pump is used to maintain a house at a constant temperature of 23°C. The house is losing heat
to the outside air through the walls and the windows at a rate of 60,000 kJ/h while the energy generated
within the house from people, lights, and appliances amounts to 4000 kJ/h. For a COP of 2.5, determine
the required power input to the heat pump.
Answer: 6.22 kW

16) Refrigerant-134a enters the condenser of a residential heat pump at 800 kPa and 35°C at a rate of
0.018 kg/s and leaves at 800 kPa as a saturated liquid. If the compressor consumes 1.2 kW of power,
determine (a) the COP of the heat pump and (b) the rate of heat absorption from the outside air.

17) Refrigerant-134a enters the evaporator coils placed at the back of the freezer section of a household
refrigerator at 120 kPa with a quality of 20 percent and leaves at 120 kPa and -20°C. If the compressor
consumes 450 W of power and the COP the refrigerator is 1.2, determine (a) the mass flow rate of the
refrigerant and (b) the rate of heat rejected to the kitchen air. Answers: (a) 0.00311 kg/s, (b) 990 W

18) A Carnot heat engine operates between a source at 1000 K and a sink at 300 K. If the heat engine is
supplied with heat at a rate of 800 kJ/min, determine (a) the thermal efficiency and (b) the power output
of this heat engine. Answers: (a) 70 percent, (b) 9.33 kW

19) A heat engine operates between a source at 550°C and a sink at 25°C. If heat is supplied to the heat
engine at a steady rate of 1200 kJ/min, determine the maximum power output of this heat engine.

20) An innovative way of power generation involves the utilization of geothermal energy—the energy of
hot water that exists naturally underground—as the heat source. If a supply of hot water at 140°C is
discovered at a location where the environmental temperature is 20°C, determine the maximum thermal
efficiency a geothermal power plant built at that location can have. Answer: 29.1 percent

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