Final Lab Report 4
Final Lab Report 4
Final Lab Report 4
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
NAME STUDENT ID
BEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering – Level 3
BHOLAH Rakshita 2013513
DATE OF PRACTICAL : 14th January 2022
DABEE Chitatma 1911999 DATE OF SUBMISSION : 17th January 2023
GOOROODOYAL Yovish 2016070
TABLE OF TABLES
Table 1: Calculated values ............................................................................................................................ 3
Table 2: Work Distribution ......................................................................................................................... 23
TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Graph of Experimental Thermal Efficiency against Rotational Speed ......................................... 5
Figure 2:Graph of Theoretical Thermal Efficiency against Rotational Speed .............................................. 5
Figure 3:Graph of Useful Power Output against Rotational Speed .............................................................. 6
Figure 4:Graph of Boiler Efficiency against Rotational Speed .................................................................... 7
Figure 5:Graph of Isentropic Efficiency against Rotational Speed .............................................................. 8
Figure 6: Effect of increasing the Boiler Pressure ........................................................................................ 9
Figure 7: Vapour power plant ..................................................................................................................... 11
Figure 8: Illustration of Rankine Cycle....................................................................................................... 12
Figure 9: Raw data ...................................................................................................................................... 17
i
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Since the introduction of steam turbines, humankind has been able to improve a lot in the
industrialisation era. Steam turbines find especially useful in the production of electricity whereas
water is boiled and the steam is used to turn a turbine and the mechanical work is used to produce
electricity in thermal power plants. Mauritius as now, still counts 4 Thermal Power plants around
the island which make use of such a system to produce electricity and they account for 40% of the
Mauritian power requirement.
In this experiment, we are to investigate the efficiency of the S220 Rankine Cycle Steam Turbine.
There are a lot of different approaches to determine the efficiency of a turbine but in this case, it
is done by collecting data from the electrical work input to the boiler and the work output from the
turbine. This ensures to get a better realistic result. This report covers all the data collected, how it
was collected and the graphs and the results of this experiment followed by the conclusion drawn
by our team.
2.0 APPLICATIONS
The principal of steam turbine works by heating water to a very high temperature that is
superheated vapour. The steam which is produced during the process is then used to turn the blades
of the turbine which in turn produces mechanical energy.
Boiler and steam turbines are used in various industries such as:
• Power plants
• Gas and oil industries – Used as a pump drive or compressor, steam turbines support dozens
of operations in oil and gas industry.
1
• Pharmaceutical and Chemical industries - Providing heat and electricity to drive different
processes in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, steam turbines are integrated in
the process of producing power.
• Sugar Mills – Officering high levels of efficiency and sustainable operations, steam
turbines are used to produce green carbon-dioxide energy from bagasse.
• Waste plants – Steam turbines help generate the power needed to harness energy from
wastes.
In general, boiler and steam turbine are the preferred alternative to electrical power in industries
producing combustible waste. The latter can then be used to in the boiler to produce steam and
hence electricity from the turbine (Wat Electrical, 2020).
In Mauritius, the electricity exported yearly by its power plants represents just under 30% of the
annual electricity generated in the country and with Omnicane 40% of the country’s renewable
bagasse-based energy being produced. The main power plant at La Baraque is one of the largest
bagasse and coal fired cogeneration plants in the world which uses bagasse and coal to generate
steam and electricity for the cluster and electricity for the national grid. On the other hand,
Omnicane’s main cogeneration plant captures by-product heat from combustion of bagasse and
coal and transforms this heat into useful energy, namely electricity. Therefore, when compared to
traditional power plants, Omnicane’s cogeneration plant reaches an efficiency of 80% (Anon.,
2022).
2
In order to evaluate the validity of the experiment and the reliability of the steam turbine theoretical values of thermal efficiency were
also calculated. The results of these calculations were used to compare the experimental thermal efficiency to its theoretical value.
The raw results, calculations and other formula used are found in the Appendix below (see section 6.5).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Inlet Pressure / kPa 220.00 299.00 280.00 310.00 280.00 299.00 320.00 318.00 370.00 380.00 399.00 480.00
Exhaust Pressure / kPa -10.00 -10.10 -10.40 -10.20 -10.40 -9.80 -10.20 -10.00 -10.30 -10.70 -11.00 -11.90
Rotational Speed / revmin-1 15500 17493 19500 21534 23542 25432 27500 29536 31493 33532 35500 37577
Brake Load / N 0.29 0.15 0.15 0.13 0.13 0.12 0.10 0.09 0.15 0.13 0.11 0.11
Time to collect 200cm3 180 165 156 188 152 144 127 125 120 105 95 87
condensate / s
Steam Pressure / kPa 537.33 557.26 517.99 554.66 555.97 541.33 524.87 560.35 548.79 536.93 504.73 521.08
Steam Temperature (T7) / 0C 161.38 160.20 161.23 160.25 160.35 159.80 161.40 162.16 161.40 161.92 160.53 160.73
Change in Turbine Pressure / 230.00 309.10 290.40 320.20 290.40 308.80 330.20 328.00 380.30 390.70 410.00 491.90
kPa
Volume Flowrate *10-6 / m3s-1 1.11 1.21 1.28 1.06 1.32 1.39 1.57 1.60 1.67 1.90 2.11 2.30
Ideal pump work rate / W 0.255 0.374 0.372 0.339 0.383 0.429 0.518 0.525 0.635 0.742 0.865 1.13
3
Rate of Turbine work output / 10.8 6.32 7.05 6.74 7.37 7.35 6.62 6.40 11.4 10.5 9.41 9.96
W
Useful Power output / W 10.5 5.95 6.68 6.40 6.99 6.92 6.10 5.88 10.8 9.76 8.55 8.83
Experimental Thermal 0.175 0.0992 0.111 0.107 0.117 0.115 0.102 0.0980 0.180 0.163 0.142 0.147
Efficiency / %
Absolute inlet pressure / kPa 321.00 400.00 381.00 411.00 381.00 400.00 421.00 419.00 471.00 481.00 500.00 581.00
Absolute exhaust pressure / 91.00 90.90 90.60 90.80 90.60 91.20 90.80 91.00 90.70 90.30 90.00 89.10
kPa
h1 / kJ kg-1 2783.4 2774.9 2778.5 2774.1 2776.7 2774.0 2775.7 2771.1 2771.8 2772.2 2767.6 2762.0
h2 / kJ kg-1 2561.9 2515.8 2637.9 2511.2 2526.9 2515.9 2508.9 2511.3 2488.5 2483.8 2472.3 2442.3
h3 / kJ kg-1 405.6 405.8 405.1 405.3 405.1 405.9 405.3 405.6 405.2 404.7 404.3 403.1
h4 / kJ kg-1 405.8 406.1 405.4 405.6 405.4 406.2 405.6 405.9 405.6 405.1 404.7 403.6
Pump Work / kJ kg-1 0.239 0.322 0.302 0.333 0.302 0.321 0.344 0.341 0.396 0.407 0.427 0.512
Mass flowrate *10-3 / kg s-1 1.07 1.16 1.21 1.02 1.27 1.34 1.51 1.54 1.60 1.83 2.03 2.21
Qin / W 2544 2753 2872 2412 3007 3162 3574 3635 3796 4320 4789 5215
Boiler efficiency / % 42.4 45.9 47.9 40.2 50.1 52.7 59.6 60.6 63.3 72.0 79.8 86.9
Theoretical Thermal 9.31 10.9 5.91 11.1 10.5 10.9 11.2 11.0 12.0 12.2 12.5 13.5
Efficiency / %
Isentropic Efficiency / % 4.43 1.98 3.93 2.39 2.20 2.00 1.51 1.47 1.30 1.85 1.43 1.25
Percentage difference between 98.1 99.1 98.1 99.0 98.9 98.9 99.1 99.1 98.5 98.7 98.9 98.9
Experimental and Theoretical
Thermal Efficiency / %
4
4.0 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Both actual and theoretical thermal efficiency against rotational speed graphs have been generated
to illustrate the speed dependence of the turbine's thermal efficiency and to compare the
discrepancy between the two methods.
0.2
0.18
0.16
0.14
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000
Rotational Speed / rev/min
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000
Rotational Speed / (rev/min)
Observation
Since the best-fit lines for both graphs have a positive gradient, we may infer that the thermal
efficiency improves(increases) as the rotational speed does. More so, it is seen that the
experimental value deviates more from the line of best fit at greater rotational speeds.
5
Explanation
The discrepancies in the graphs corroborated the large discrepancy (99%) between the practical
and theoretical values of thermal efficiency, and they happened most likely as a result of poor
reaction time and mistimed activities when measuring the time for the condensate to fill up to
200cm3.
To visualize how the turbine's useful power production shifts as the rotational speed increases, a
graph of useful power output vs rotational speed has been constructed.
10
0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000
Rotational Speed / (rev/min)
Observation
Since the slope of the best-fit line is positive, the useful power output of the turbine grows as the
rotational speed of the shaft increases. In contrast, the graph exhibits the same outliers as
experimental thermal efficiency at high rotational speed.
Explanation
Errors on the part of humans or extreme changes in the data logger's readings during measurement
recording are most likely responsible for these discrepancies.
6
To visualize how boiler efficiency shifts as rotational speed increases, a graph of efficiency vs
speed was generated.
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000
Rotational Speed / (rev/min)
Observation
Increasing the rotational speed of the boiler results in a greater efficiency, as evidenced by the
best-fit line's positive gradient. Further, as compared to other efficiencies, boiler efficiency has
substantially higher values and shows less deviation from the line of best fit.
Explanation
As the mass flow rate increases with increasing rotational speed, the boiler efficiency increases
practically linearly. For this reason, the boiler must work harder to meet the increased energy
demands. Deflections of this magnitude are consistent with heat being dissipated into the
environment due to insufficient insulation and frictional forces from the fluid.
7
To visualize how the turbine's or pump's isentropic efficiency shifts as rotational speed increases,
a graph of isentropic efficiency vs rotational speed has been constructed.
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000
Rotational Speed / (rev/min)
Observation
As the rotational speed of the turbine/pump increases, its isentropic efficiency drops, as evidenced
by the negative gradient of the best-fit line. The turbine/pump also exhibits extremely low
isentropic properties.
Explanation
The following factors contribute to the extremely poor isentropic efficiency of the pump/turbine:
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• There is heat loss in pipes before entering the turbine.
There is pressure drop in the boiler and condenser and hence the steam leaves at a lower pressure.
Improvements:
• Ensure that the boiler safety valve in connected to vented and safe area away from the
operator and surroundings.
• Check the boiler glass water container for any kind of damage.
• Operator should wear safety heat insulated gloves as the throttle and other parts get
extremely hot.
• Operators and other person in the surrounding should wear Safety Ear Muffs as the turbine
gets very loud during operation.
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• Ensure that the water level does not drop much in the boiler.
• Open the brake cooling water valve to avoid brake overheating.
5.0 CONCLUSION
The average experimental thermal efficiency of the Rankine cycle under various conditions was
found to be 0.130 %. However, it can be observed that there is a large difference between the
experimental values obtained during the practical and the theoretical values. One of the reasons
which could explain this very poor efficiency is that we took the power of the boiler to be strictly
6kW when in reality the boiler power is lower as the boiler is not continuously drawing electrical
power. Therefore, less power input result in a higher efficiency.
Secondly this is also due to heat losses in the system and high speed of rotation. Additionally, this
setup is merely to understand the concept of Rankine cycle and therefore it is not designed for
maximum efficiency.
6.0 REFERENCES
1. Anon., 2018. 360 Training. [Online]
Available at: https://www.360training.com/blog/steam-turbines-application
[Accessed 7 Jan 2023].
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6.0 APPENDIX
6.1 Theory
In a power cycle, heat is transformed into mechanical work through a series of thermodynamic
processes that repeat along a closed process path.
The thermodynamic power cycles can be categorized as gas cycles and vapor cycles.
• In gas cycles, the working fluid remains in the gas phase throughout the entire cycle.
• In vapor cycles, the working fluid exits as vapor phase during one part of the cycle and as
liquid phase during another part of the cycle.
Water is the most commonly used working medium. Water undergoes a phase change during the
power cycle, going from a liquid state to superheated steam. After doing some work on its
surroundings, the expanding steam condenses back to its original state and changes back to liquid.
Vapor power plants generate electrical power by using fuels like coal, oil or natural gas. The
schematic of a vapor power plant is shown above. The entire power plant can be broken down into
four major subsystems.
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• D: Cooling water system
This experiment is focused on the subsystem A. As shown in the diagram below, this subsystem
consists of:
• A Boiler:
The Rankine cycle uses a boiler to convert the water into steam according to the
turbine’s desired temperature and pressure.
• A Turbine:
The main purpose of the steam turbine is to rotate the shaft of the generator to
produce electricity. The turbine extracts the mechanical power from the steam
and sends it into the condensate.
• A pump:
It is a device which uses to transfers the water from one area to another high
area. The main objective of the pump is to transfer the water from the reservoir
or other water source into the boiler.
• A condenser:
It cools the steam, converts it into liquid form, and sends this water back into the
boiler.
All four components associated with the ideal Rankine cycle are steady-flow devices, and thus all
four processes that make up the Rankine cycle can be analyzed as steady-flow process.
Since the kinetic and potential energy changes of water are insignificant compared to heat and
work, they are overlooked. The four components' energy analyses are provided below.
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• 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝟏 → 𝟐: 𝐈𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧
Wet steam from the condenser enters the pump and is compressed isentropically. Pressure rises to
the operating pressure of the boiler. Work is done on the system.
v1 2 v2 2
So, applying the steady flow equation: h1 + + gZ1 + Q = h2 + + gZ2 + W
2 2
Work done by pump, WPUMP = h2 − h1
v2 2 v3 2
Applying the steady flow equation: h2 + + gZ2 + Q = h3 + + gZ3 + W
2 2
v3 2 v4 2
Applying the steady flow equation: h3 + + gZ3 + Q = h4 + + gZ4 + W
2 2
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Thermal Efficiency of Rankine Cycle
In general, the thermal efficiency, ηth, of any heat engine is defined as the ratio of the work it
does, W, to the heat input at the high temperature, QH..
The thermal efficiency, ηth, represents the fraction of heat, QH, converted to work. Since energy is
conserved according to the first law of thermodynamics and energy cannot be converted to work
completely, the heat input, QH, must equal the work done, W, plus the heat that must be dissipated
as waste heat QC into the environment. Therefore, we can rewrite the formula for thermal
efficiency as:
6.2 Procedure
• Water at room temperature and pressure was heated until a pressure of 6 bar in the boiler.
• An initial break load of 0.11N was set which varies for each value of speed and so new
value is recorded in the process.
• Superheated vapour is then allowed to flow into the turbine by opening the valve.
• The turbine rotational speed was varied between a range of 15 000 to 40 000 rev/min and
values of inlet pressure, exhaust pressure, steam pressure and steam temperature recorded.
• Condenser valve was opened and the time taken to collect 200cm3 of liquid water was
recorded.
14
6.3 Lab sheet
15
16
6.4 Raw Data
17
6.5 Calculations
Experimental Calculation:
= 230.00 kPa
200
𝜈 = 180
𝜈 = 1.11 cm3s-1
𝜈 = 1.11×10-6 m3s-1
= (1.11×10-6) × (230.00×103)
= 0.255 Js-1
= 0.255 W
2πN
= Brake load × r × 60
= 10.8 W
• Useful power output = Turbine work output rate – Ideal pump work rate
= 10.8 – 0.255
= 10.5 W
18
Useful Power Output
• Thermal Efficiency, 𝜂𝑡ℎ = Required Power Input × 100
10.5
= 6000 ×100
= 0.175 %
Theoretical Calculation:
With the aid of these diagrams, the following calculations were performed.
19
h1 = 2783.4 kJkg-1
s1 = 7.1017 kJkg-1K-1
S2 − Sf
x=
Sg − Sf
7.1017−1.2705
= 7.3938−1.2705
= 0.952
hfg = hg – hf
= 2670.5 – 405.6
= 2265 kJkg-1
h2 = hf + x hfg
= 405.6 + 0.952(2265)
= 2561.9 kJkg-1
• h3 = hf
= 405.6 kJkg-1
v3 = vf
= 0.001041 m3kg-1 (By interpolation)
ΔP = P4 – P3
20
= 321 – 91.0
= 230.0 kPa
vf = 0.001041 m3kg-1
Wpump = vf × ΔP
Wpump = 0.001041 × 230.0
= 0.2394 kJkg-1
• h4 = h3 + Wpump
= 405.6 + 0.2394
= 405.8 kJkg-1
1
• mass flow rate, ṁ = volume flow rate × v
3
1 1
= 0.001041
v3
= 960.6 kgm-3
ṁ = (1.11×10-6) × 960.6
= 1.07×10-3 kgs-1
Q̇̇̇̇in
• Boiler Efficiency = Required power input × 100
2544
= × 100
6000
= 42.4 %
• Turbine work = h1 – h2
Pump work = h4 – h3
21
Theoretical useful power output = (h1 – h2) – (h4 – h3)
(2783.4−2561.9)−(405.8−405.6)
= × 100
2783.4−405.8
= 9.31 %
Actual work
Isentropic efficiency = × 100
Ideal work
10.5
= × 100
237
= 4.43 %
= 98.1 %
Note: The same calculation is repeated for the other values and interpolation is done where
necessary.
22
6.6 Work Distribution
Table 2: Work Distribution
23