EXPERIMENT NO: P - 01

STEAM POWER CYCLE

INSTRUCTURED BY:

Mr. SasiriGamage

GROUP MEMBERS:

Wanigathunga S.S

Weerasooriya S.

Weerathunga W.A.M.A
NAME Wickramasinghe P.M.A.M.K
Wickramaarachchi N.Y
COURSE : B.Sc. Engineering
Wickramaarachch W.M.K.P
INDEX NO : 100593T
Wickramaarachchi W.H

Wijerathne N.L.M.M GROUP : CH

Zabrin M.R.M DATE OF PER : 17/02/2012

Abesinghe S.S
DATE OF SUB : 02/03/2012
Sumanaweera D.N
 INTRODUCTION

It is evidently emphasized that thermodynamics is the basic science of energy

transformations involving work , heat and the properties of matter and has long been considered as an
essential part of engineering applications all over the world .It depends on macroscopic physical
property variables, such as temperature, volume and pressure, which describe material bodies and
radiation, which in this science are called thermodynamic systems.

Energy defines as the ability to do a work . As a matter of fact the ability exists in different ways
.For examples

 Potential energy - The energy stored because of the establishment of the object in a field
such as gravitational , electrical or magnetic field .
 Kinetic energy -The energy contains in an object as a result of its movement.
 Electrical energy – The energy occurs because of the movement of electrons.
 Chemical energy – The energy that stores in the bonds of atoms and molecules .
 Nuclear energy – The energy that stored in the nucleus of an atom.
 Thermal energy- The energy occurs internal energy of a substance due to vibration and
movement of atoms and molecules within substances .

Energy sources are the source which we get energy from. There are many energy sources, primary
energy source of all energy sources is the Sun.

Energy

Renewable energy Nonrenewable

Most of the energy sources are renewable . It can be categorized Hydro power ,Solar energy , wind
energy ,geothermal energy , Biomass & Biofuels ,Tidal energy , Magnetic hydro dynamic (MHD) ,
sea wave energy etc. But actually the efficiency and initial cost to establish the power plants are
relatively high in forming above energy requirements .

Crude oil, natural gas, coal, uranium are some of Nonrenewable energy sources.Most of
nonrenewableenergy sources have high efficiency. These energy sources play the main role in
world’s energy consumption specially the crude oil.
In this practical it was mainly focused on the technical aspects of steam power cycle and its
theoretical explanations .This cycle is called as the Rankine cycle and it is related how heat is
converted into the work . The concept is used in most of electrical power generation processes as it
can easily convert various kind of energy sources into electrical energy .And also we’ll discuss the
problems which raised because of the over use of fossil oil, what are the solution for them and the
alternative energy sources for fossil oil.

STEAM POWER CYCLE

Steam power cycle consists with mainly four components .They are

 Boiler
 Turbine
 Condenser
 Pump

Boiler
4

pump 1

Turbine

3 2
Condenser
 METHODOLOGY

ENERGY BALANCE FOR EACH COMPONENT IN THE RANKINE CYCLE

Assumption,

1). System is at steady state condition (SS)

2). System is at steady flow condition

3). The kinetic and potential energy changes of work are small relative to the heat and work terms,
are thus neglected.

Then the energy equation is

{ Qin – Win + m˚(hin +K.E in +P.E in)} – {Qout – Wout + m˚(hout +K.E out +P.E out)} =dE/dt

For unit mass

qin- win + hin+ kein+ pein– (qout – wout + hout + keout+ peout)= dE/dt

Assuming that pump and turbine to be isentropic and nothing that there is no work associated
with the boiler and the condenser .

Hence energy equation for each component .

 Boiler

Qin

Boiler

hin hout

energy equation

qin- win+ hin+ kein+ pein– (qexit – wexit + hexit + keexit+ peexit)= dE/dt

qin = hin – hout ( hin =h4 , hout=h1 )

  Turbine

h1

Wout

h2

Apply energy equation

qin- win+ hin+ kein+ pein– (qexit – wexit + hexit + keexit+ peexit)= dE/dt

wout = hin – hout hin =h1 ,hout=h2

 Condenser

hout hin

Condenser

qout

Apply energy equation

qin- win+ hin+ Kein+ Pein– (qout – wout + hout + Keout+ Peout)= dE/dt

 Qout = hin – hout hin =h2 ,h0ut=h3

  Pump h4

W in

h3

Apply energy equation

qin- win+ hin+ Kein+ Pein– (qout – wout + hout + Keout+ Peout)= dE/dt

win= hin – hout hin =h3 ,h0ut=h4

Whole system

Qin

h4 Boiler h1

Win W out

h3 Condenser

h2

Qout
Apply energy equation

qin- win+ hin+ Kein+ Pein– (qout – wout + hout + Keout+ Peout)= dE/dt

qin =h1-h4---------------------(1)

wout=h2-h1---------------------(2)

qout=h2-h3----------------------(3)

win=h3-h4-----------------------(4) (1)+(2) =(3)+(4)

So, qin–qout= win– wout

 DISCUSSION

EFFICIENCY OF EACH COMPONENT OF THE STEAM POWER CYCLE

 It can be presented the efficiency of typical steam power cycle as follows .Wcycle is the work
which is done in one rotation through the cycle and Q is the heat provided from the source to
the system .

Wcycle
ɳ= wcycle - work done
𝑄

Q – heat entered to system

Most of electrical power in the world is produced by steam power plants .Therefore ,even a small
increase in nth can result in large saving of fuel . Hence , continued efforts are being made to improve
the nth of the cycle on which the steam power plants operate .

The methods to improve the vapor power cycle aim at

 Increasing the average temperature of boiler

 Decrease the average temperature in the condenser .

Pumps

The efficiency is varied according to the various pressure conditions of pumps. Normally
it lays between 15% to 95% . When the pump operating pressure increases it is reduced the efficiency
of cycle .

Boiler

The efficiency of boiler depends on input heat . As well as the efficiency is varied according to
the type of boiler .It means
Boiler Efficiency
Old gas heavy 55%
Old gas light 65%
Non – condensing 78%
Condensing 88%
An increase in operating pressure of the boiler automatically rises the temperature at which boiling
takes place .This in turn increases the average temperature at heat which heat is added to the steam . As
a result of that it is increased in thermal efficiency of cycle .

Condenser

By lowering of the operating pressure of the condenser automatically lowers the temperature of the
steam and thus the temperature at which heat is rejected ,and steam exists as a saturated mixture in the
condenser at the saturated temperature relevant to inside pressure . Though this step can increase the
efficiency of cycle , the condensation pressure can’t be decreased below the saturation pressure
relational to the temperature of cooling medium .

Turbine

Turbine is the part that convert the thermal energy into mechanical energy .So this should have a good
efficiency . Normally it should have to be provided necessary actions to avoid energy losses due to
friction and noise .How ever in steam power cycle the efficiency can increase establishing few turbines
in order to cycle . Usually it is used low pressure and high pressure turbines .
Advantages of steam instead of other vapor

Though sodium ,potassium, mercury used as working fluids commonly steam is the major working
fluid used in vapor power cycles .It is because steam has many desirable characteristics such as

 Low cost
 Easy availability
 High enthalpy of vaporization
 Low viscosity in flowing
 Inflammable etc.

Other working fluids ( above ) relatively have higher cost , but not used as steam vapor if the
application is not a high temperature one .

Turbine and pump both working in same pressure difference .But

pressure Turbine work > Pump work

volume
 When pump is working it does work to subcooled liquid. But superheated vapor do work to turbine.
Specific volume of superheated vapor (v1) is much higher than that of subcooled liquid volume (v2).
Therefore turbine work is much higher than the pump work as w=P(δv) .

W=P(δv1 –δv2) ; δv1> δv2hence W>0

Volume change in medium - pump and turbine.

According to the curve pump operates the liquid and turbine operates the steam . When flow work
happens in turbine the steam is changed it volume in a big amount relatively to the pump . Pump shows
this from 1 – 2 and turbine shows this 3 – 4 in temperature entropy graph . As well as if compare the
difference between 1 – 2 and 3 – 4 we are able to see that 3 – 4 is greater than 1 – 2 .So that vapor
volume change is high and water volume change is low .Current energy scenario – problems and
solutions

In fact current energy scenario is mainly gather around fossil fuel . It is because the efficiency of fossil
fuel is high .Out of 85% of energy need of world fulfill by fossil fuel . But fossil fuel amount is
decreasing rapidly and not generating as it loosing .So this limitation has caused many problems all
around the world today .The cost of fossil fuel is increasing day by day .So , there is a conflict to have
their energy needs among countries also .As well as combustion fossil fuel causes so many
environmental problems . For examples it helps to rise the global temperature directly .Therefore
Green gas effect happens and increases the temperature . The percentage of CO 2 , SO2 gases increases
in atmosphere . Other thing is small fumes such as PbO releases to the air and causes many of health
problems of living hood .

solutions

Many scientists are looking for new energy sources to full fill energy needs .Out of them they interest
environmental friendly energy resources .
We can categorize few of them as follows .

 Solar power – solar cells , solar towers

 Tidal power
 Geo thermal power
 Wind power –wind mills
 MHD (Magnetic Hydro Dynamic) power
 Bio mass and Bio fuels
 Nuclear Power – highest efficiency power resource .

However most of these systems use steam cycle to convert those power into useful power . Hence the
steam power cycle has the major position of converting various energy systems into useful manner .
 REFERENCE

Rathakrishnan E, Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics, 2005, 226 – 262p

Rogers .G, Mayhew. Y, Engineering thermo dynamics, fourth edition

http://www.ohio.edu/mechanical/thermo/applied/chapt.7_11/chapter8a.html

http://www.ecology.com/2011/09/06/fossils-fuels-vs-renewable-energy-resources

http://mit.edu/16.unified/www/FALL/thermodynamics/notes/node66.html