AET - W18

UNIT IV
Vapour Power Cycle

The working fluid is water, which
undergoes a change of phase during
the cycle.
• Pure Substance
• A substance that has a fixed chemical composition throughout
is called a pure substance.
Examples of pure substances:
• Water
• mixture of ice and water
Examples of non-pure substances:
• mixture of water and oil
• mixture of liquid air and gaseous air
Solid, Liquid, and Gas
Substances exist in different phases. A phase is identified as having a
distinct molecular arrangement that is homogeneous throughout and
separated from other phases by easily identifiable boundary surface.
The three principal phases are solid, liquid, and gas.
When a material changes from a solid to liquid, or from a liquid to a gas, an amount of
energy is involved in the change of phase.
This energy must be supplied or removed from the system to cause the molecular
rearrangement. This energy is called the latent heat.
Phase-change Processes
The entire process can be described on a T-v diagram
1 = Subcooled Liquid
2 = Saturated Liquid
3 = Saturated Mixture
4 = Saturated Vapor
5 = Superheated Vapor
Vapour Power Cycle
Vapour power cycles are used in steam power plants. In a power cycle
heat energy (released by the burning of fuel) is converted into work
(shaft work), in which a working fluid repeatedly performs a succession
of processes. In a vapour power cycle, the working fluid is water, which
undergoes a change of phase.
A power cycle continuously converts heat energy into work, in
which a working fluid performs a succession of processes. In the
vapor power cycle, the working fluid, which is water, undergoes a
change of phase into steam, which may be in the form wet, dry
saturated or super heated. A vapor power plant differs from a gas
power plant in that, it’s working fluid may undergo a phase change
during the working of the plant.
Like in any other power cycle, the working fluid (steam/water) in a
steam power plant undergoes four basic operations in a cyclic
manner.
For each operation in a vapor power plant, we can think of a
hypothetical or ideal process, which represents the basic intended
operation. Since these operations are cyclic, the idealized
processes representing these operations form an ideal cycle. That
is known as vapor power cycle.
Rankine Vapour Cycle
The Rankine cycle is the fundamental operating
cycle of all power plants where an operating
fluid is continuously evaporated and condensed.
The selection of operating fluid depends mainly
on the available temperature range.
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The Rankine cycle is an ideal cycle if water passes through the four components without irreversibility and
pressure drops.
The ideal Rankine cycle consists of the following four processes, as shown on the T-s diagram on the left:
•1-2: Isentropic compression in a pump
•2-3: Constant pressure heat addition in a boiler
•3-4: Isentropic expansion in a turbine
•4-1: Constant pressure heat rejection in a condenser

Process 1-2:
Isentropic compression in
a pump: Water enters the
pump at state 1 as
saturated liquid and is
compressed isentropically
to the operating pressure
of the boiler.
The water temperature
increases somewhat
during this isentropic
compression process due
to a slight decrease in the
specific volume of water.
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Process 2-3: Constant temperature
heat addition in a boiler: Water
enters the boiler as a compressed
liquid at state 2 and leaves as a
superheated vapor at state 3.
The boiler is basically a large heat
exchanger where the heat
originating from the combustion
gases, nuclear reactors or other
sources is transferred to the water
essentially at constant pressure.
The boiler, together with the
section where the steam is
superheated, is often called as the
steam generator.
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Process 3-4:
Isentropic expansion in a
turbine:
The superheated vapor at state
3 enters the turbine, where it
expands isentropically and
produces work by rotating the
shaft connected to the electric-
generator.
The pressure and temperature of
the steam drop during this
process to the values at state 4,
where steam enters the
condenser.
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Process 4-1:
Constant pressure heat rejection
in a condenser:
At the state 4 the steam is usually
a saturated liquid-vapor mixture
with a high quality.
Steam is condensed at constant
pressure in the condenser, which is
basically a large heat exchanger, by
rejecting heat to a cooling medium
such as lake, a river, or the
atmosphere.
Steam leaves the condenser as
saturated liquid and enters the
pump, completing the cycle.
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Energy analysis of the ideal Rankine Cycle:
All four components associated with the Rankine cycle
the pump, boiler, turbine and condenser are steady-flow
devices, and thus all four processes that make up the
Rankine cycle can be analyzed as steady-flow processes.
The potential and kinetic energy changes of the steam
are usually small relative to the work and heat transfer
terms and are therefore neglected.
The steady-flow energy equation per unit mass of the
steam reduces to,
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The boiler and the condenser do not involve any work,
and the pump and the turbine are assumed to be
isentropic.
Then the conservation of energy relation for each device
can be expressed as follows:
The pump work during process 1-2 is given by,
Pump handles water which can be assumed to be

incompressible.
From property relationship for isentropic process, ds = 0
therefore,
For process 1-2,
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The turbine work during the process 3-4 is given by,
The heat added per unit mass in the boiler during the
process 2-3 is given by,
The turbine work during the process 3-4 is given by,
The heat rejected per unit mass in the condenser during

the process 4-1 is given by,
Where,
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Thermal efficiency:
The thermal efficiency of the Rankine cycle is given
by,
Or
The pump work is usually very small compared to

turbine work.
Hence, sometimes, it is neglected. In that case,
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Work ratio:
Steam flow rate:

It is defined as the rate of stem flow in kg/hr required to
produce unit shaft power output (1kW).
It is a measure of the capacity of a steam power plant.
Heat flow rate:

It is the rate of heat input Q1 in kJ/hr required to
produce unit power output of 1kW.
Heat rate is an alternative to efficiency.
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UNIT IV

Vapour Power Cycle

The three principal phases are solid, liquid, and gas.

•1-2: Isentropic compression in a pump

•2-3: Constant pressure heat addition in a boiler

•3-4: Isentropic expansion in a turbine

•4-1: Constant pressure heat rejection in a condenser

Pump handles water which can be assumed to be

The turbine work during the process 3-4 is given by,

The heat rejected per unit mass in the condenser during

The pump work is usually very small compared to

Steam flow rate:

Heat flow rate:

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