Reheater Application:

Ideal Reheat Rankine Cycle

The moisture content of the steam is increased to unacceptable level when the
boiler pressure is increased. By utilizing a reheat process inside the Rankine
cycle, it could practically solve the excessive moisture problem in the turbines.
This technique is commonly used in modern steam power plants. Figure X
indicates the ideal reheat Rankine cycle and T-S diagram of the cycle.

Figure X : The ideal reheat Rankine Cycle with T-S diagram

In ideal reheat Rankine cycle, the expansion process takes place in two
stages. In first stage (the high pressure turbine), steam is expanded
isentropically to an intermediate pressure and sent back to the boiler where it is
reheated at constant pressure, usually to the inlet temperature of the first
turbine stage. Steam then expands isentropically in the second stage (low
pressure turbine) to the condenser pressure. This improves the cycle efficiency
by 4 to 5 percent by increasing the average temperature at which heat is
transferred to the steam. The reheat stages can be increased to increase the
efficiency; however the gain is too small to justify the added cost and complexity.
A third reheat stage would increase the cycle efficiency by about half of the
improvement attained.

Sample Calculation for ideal reheat Rankine cycle

Ideal Rankine cycle

Consider a steam power plant operating on the ideal Rankine cycle. Steam
enters the turbine at 15MPa and 600C and is condensed in the condenser at a
pressure of 10kPa. Determine the thermal efficiency.
State 1:
P1 = 10kPa (Sat Liquid)
h1 = hf@10kPa = 191.81KJ/kg
v1 = vf@10kPa = 0.00101m3/kg
State 2:
P2 = 15MPa
s2 = s 1
wpump in = v1 (P2 P1) = (0.00101 m3/kg)[15000-10]kPa(1kJ/1kPa.m3) = 15.14 kJ/kg
h2 = h1 + wpump in = (191.81 + 15.14) kJ/kg = 206.95 kJ/kg
State 3:
P3 = 15Mpa
T3 = 600C
h3 = 3583.1 kJ/kg
s3 = 6.68 kJ/kg.K
State 4:
P4 = 10kPa
s4 = s3

x4 = s4 sf / sfg = 6.68 0.6492/7.4996 = 0.804

h4 = hf + x4hfg = 191.81 + 0.804(2392.1) = 2115.06 kJ/kg
Therefore
qin = h3 h2 = 3583.1 206.95 = 3376.2 kJ/kg
qout = h4 h1 = 2115.3 - 191.81 = 1923.5 kJ/kg
th = 1 qout/qin = 1 1923.5/3376.2 =0.43 = 43 %
Thermal efficiency = 43 percent
Moisture content = 19.6 percent

Ideal Reheat Rankine Cycle

Consider a steam power plant operating on the ideal reheat Rankine cycle.
Steam enters the high-pressure turbine at 15 MPa and 600C and is condensed in
the condenser at a pressure of 10kPa. If the moisture content of the steam at the
exit of the low-pressure turbine is not to exceed 10.4 percent, determine
(a) the pressure at which the steam should be reheated
The reheat pressure is determined from the requirement that the entropies at
states 5 and 6 be the same:
State 6
P6 = 10kPa
x6 = 0.896 (saturated mixture)
s6 = sf + x6sfg = 0.6492 + 0.896(7.4996) = 7.3688 kJ/kg.K

h6 = hf + x6hfg = 191.81 + 0.896(2392.1) = 2335.1 kJ/kg

State 5
T5 = 600C
s5 = s 6
Therefore, P5 = 4MPa ; h5 = 364.9 kJ/kg
Steam should be reheated at a pressure of 4MPa or lower to prevent a moisture
content above 10.4 percent.
(b) the thermal efficiency of the cycle. Assume the steam is reheated to the inlet
temperature of the high-pressure turbine.
State 1
P1 = 10kPa (Saturated Liquid)
h1 = hf@10kPa = 191.81 kJ/kg
V1 = Vf@10kPa = 0.00101 m3/kg
State 2
P2 = 15MPa
s2 = s 1
wpump in = V1(P2-P1) = 0.00101(15000 - 10) = 15.14 kJ/kg
h2 = h1 + wpump in = 191.81 +15.14 = 206.95 kJ/kg
State 3
P3 = 15MPa
T3 = 600C
h3 = 3585.1 kJ/kg
s3 = 6.6796 kJ/kg.K
State 4
P4 = 4MPa
s4 =s3
h4 =3155 kJ/kg
T4 = 375.5C
Thus,

qin = (h3 h2) + (h5 + h4) = (3583.1 206.95) + (3674.9 3155) = 3896.1 kJ/kg
qout = h6 + h1 = 2335.1 191.81 = 2143.3 kJ/kg
th = 1 qout/qin = 1 2143.3/3896.1 = 0.45 = 45 %
Thermal efficiency = 45 percent
Moisture content = 10.4 percent
A comparison of the two result reveals that the reheating process reduces the
moisture content from 19.6to 10.4 percent while increasing the thermal
efficiency from 43% to 45%.