Table of Contents

Principle

Objective

Ba c k g r o u n d

Rankine cycle analysis

I)

Mass Flow Rate of the Rankine Cycle.

II) Work And Heat Transfer.

III) Thermal Efficiency of Cycle

IV) Air -Fuel ratio and Air Excess

V) Mass flow rate in the turbine

11

VI) Boiler analysis

11

VII) Cost of Generating Steam and Energy.

14

Experimental Setup

15

Pr o c e d u r e

18

Example#1: Rankine cycle analysis

18

Example#2: Combustion analysis of the boiler

22

Discussion

24

R e fe r e n c e s

24

University of Puerto Rico Mayagez Campus Department of Mechanical Engineering INME 4032 - LABORATORY II Spring 2004
Instructor: Guillermo Araya

Experiment 4: Powerplant analysis with a Rankine cycle Principle

This experiment is designed to acquire experience on the operation of a functional

steam turbine power plant. A comparison of a real world operating characteristics to

that of the ideal Rankine power cycle will be made.

Objective
The objective of this lab is to acquire experience on the basic Rankine cycle and to

understand the factors and parameters affecting the efficiency and cost of generating

energy. In this lab, we will determine:

a) Mass Flow Rate of a Rankine Cycle.

b) Thermodynamics properties (entropies, enthalpies, quality, etc). Draw a

schematic of the cycle in a T-S diagram.

c) Work and heat transfer in the different stages of the cycle.

d) Thermal efficiency of the cycle.

e) Mass flow rate in the turbine.

f) Boiler efficiency

g) Air-Fuel ratio and air excess.

h) Cost of generating steam and energy.

Background
The Rankine cycle is the most common of all power generation cycles and is

diagrammatically depicted via Figures 1 and 2. The Rankine cycle was devised to make

use of the characteristics of water as the working fluid. The cycle begins in a boiler

(State 4 in figure 1), where the water is heated until it reaches saturation- in a constant-

pressure process. Once saturation is reached, further heat transfer takes place at a

constant temperature, until the working fluid reaches a quality of 100% (State 1). At this

point, the high-quality vapor is expanded isoentropically through an axially bladed

turbine stage to produce shaft work. The steam then exits the turbine at State 2.

The working fluid, at State 2, is at a low-pressure, but has a fairly high quality, so it is

routed through a condenser, where the steam is condensed into liquid (State 3). Finally,

the cycle is completed via the return of the liquid to the boiler, which is normally

accomplished by a mechanical pump. Figure 2 shows a schematic of a power plant

under a Rankine cycle.

Figure 1: Diagrams for a simple ideal Rankine cycle: a) P-V diagram, b) T-S diagram

Figure 2: Schematic of a simple ideal Rankine cycle

Rankine cycle analysis

This experiment has an important difference with the cycle shown in Figure 2. The

difference is that there is not a pump to complete the cycle. This is not exactly a cycle.

Instead, it is an open system. The water crossing the condenser is stored in a tank as

show in Figure 3, but the principle of Rankine cycle studied in Thermodynamic is still

valid.

The boiler will be filled with water before the experiment and the experiment will be

ended when the water is reaches the minimum level of correct operation, given by the

manufacturer.

Another important difference is that between the boiler and turbine there is a valve that

generates a throttling effect. The throttling process is analyzed as an isenthalpic

process. This phenomenon will be analyzed more in detail. Also, the boiler generates a

superheated vapor.

Figure 3: Schematic of Rankine cycle steam turbine apparatus

I. Mass Flow Rate of the Rankine Cycle.

Evaluating the time of operation and volume of consumed water, the mass flow rate can

be measured as:

 m water ! q water V water !

 water V water time

Here, time is measured with a chronometer for a known volume of water  water in the

boiler.

II. Work and Heat Transfer

For this analysis, it is assumed that the process is ideal and there are not pressure

losses occurring in the piping, but as has been said previously the boiler generates

superheated vapor and there is a throttling process in the valve. Figure 4 shows the

Figure 4: Real Rankine cycle

modified cycle of the plant.

The evaporator, in this case a fire-tube boiler, produces a superheated vapor (Stage1d ).

Taking a control volume enclosing the boiler tubes and drums, the energy rate balance

gives:

V 2  V22  m water h1d h4  1 0 ! Qin  g z1  z 2 2

neglecting kinetic and potential energy, the energy equation reduce to:

  Qin ! mwater h1d h4

Then, vapors pass through the valve, states1-1. For a control volume enclosing the

valve, the mass and energy rate balance reduces under steady state to:

  0 ! Qv  mwater ?h1d h1d A d

 Since there is not work done in the valve and heat transfer Qv can be neglected, last

equation reduces to:

h1d! h1d d
which means that there is an isenthalpic expansion in the valve.

Making a similar analysis for the pump and condenser, the work and heat transfer are:

  Qout ! m water h2  h3 and

  W p ! m water h4  h3

The energy balance for a control volume around the turbine under steady state condition

is:

   0 ! Qcv  Wt  mwater ?h1d h2d A d d

 Neglecting heat transfer Qcv to the surrounding, the process in the turbine is assumed

adiabatic and reversible, so isentropic ( S 2d ! S1d and the energy equation reduces to: ) d d

  Wt ! mwater h1d h2d d d

Then, knowing that S 2d ! S1d and also S f 2 and S g 2 which could be estimated with the d d

pressure and temperature at outlet of the turbine, the quality of the vapor can be

calculated as:

x2 !

S g 2  S1d d Sg 2  S f 2

with x 2 , the enthalpy h2 is calculated as:

h2 ! h g 2  x 2 h g 2  h f 2

where h f 2 and h g 2 are calculated with the outlet temperature. It is important to

d emphasize that the valve generates entropy from state 1dto the state1d Without the .

 expansion valve the cycle would be close to an isentropic expansion 1d 2 din the

, d , turbine. All parameters h1d h1d, S1d S1d, S1 , hB d

and S 4 can be determined from

temperatures and pressures at each stage.

III. Thermal Efficiency of Cycle

The net work of the cycle is defined by the difference between the turbine work and the

pump work:

    Wcycle ! Wt  Wp ! mwaterh1d h2d  mwaterh4  h3  d d

If the pump work is neglected, the net work of the cycle reduces to:

  Wcycle ! m water h1d h2d d d

Then the thermal efficiency of this system is defined by the rate between the net work

and heat transfer from the boiler:

 h d h d Wt L! ! 1d 2 d Qin h1  h4

IV. Air -Fuel ratio and Air Excess.

The chemical composition of the gases at the outlet of boiler is:

ACO 2 

CO  C NO  DO2  F NO2  G N 2  M water H 2 O

at the inlet, there are dry air and fuel (butane):

M air ?O 2  3 .76 N 2 A M

fuel

?C 4 H 10 A

Then, making a balance between inlet and outlet:

M air ? 2  3.76N 2 A M fuel ? 4 H10 A! ACO2  O C

CO  CNO  DO2  F NO2  GN 2  M water H 2O

so,

fuel

B 4

M air !

C  F  2G 3.76

M water !

M fuel 5

Where the coefficients (A, B, C, D, F, G and Mi) are the molar mass necessary to

balance the equation. Then the air excess is:

E air !

M air 100 M air (ideal )

the M air (ideal ) is the molar mass of air when the chemical reaction is complete, and

there is not formation of water and intermediate compounds:

M air (ideal )? 2  3.76 N 2 A ? 4 H 10 A! ACO 2  G N 2  M water H 2 O O C

Balancing this equation: M air (ideal ) ! 13 , G ! 24.44 , A ! 4 and M water ! 5 , which is: 2

13 ?O2  3.76N 2 A ?C4 H10 A! 4CO2  24.44N 2  5H 2O 2

Then, the Air-Fuel ratio is defined by:

AF !

M air Pair M fuel Pfuel

Where Pair and Pfuel are the atomic weight of air and combustible, respectively. The

air

! 29 kg/Kmol and the

fuel

!4

 10

V. Mass flow rate in the turbine

From the generated amperage and voltage:

 Wt ! VI
so, the mass flow rate in the turbine is:

 m!

VI L t h1d h2d d d

Where L t is the efficiency of the turbine. Here, we will assume this efficiency equal to

one.

VI. Boiler analysis

From the chemical equation of combustion, balanced in term of moles:

massair ? 2  3.76N2 A masscomb? 4 H10 A! ACO2  BCO  CNO  DO2  FNO2 O C  GN2  MH2O

the first law of thermodynamics for a volume enclosing the boiler is:

! 58.12 kg/Kmol.

 mh  Q
R

comb

! mh
P

where

and

are the sum for each reactants and products of combustion.

Remember that mi ! n i M i , where mi is mass, ni is number of moles and M i is the

molar mass of the i-th component. Last equation is written in the form:

nMh  Q
R

comb

! nMh
P

Here, h is the enthalpy of reactants and products at the temperature of inlet and outlet

of the boiler. They could be found in the table of enthalpies of formation.

Figure 5: Enthalpy of formation

Another form to write the first law is:

nM ? h
R

0 f

 (h  Qcomb ! nM h 0  (h f
P

where h 0 is the enthalpy of reactants and products, respectively, at the standard f temperature and pressure. Rearranging:

Qcomb ! nM h 0  (h  nM h 0  (h f f
P R 0 f 0 f P R P

?  A ?  A nM h A nM h A ! ?   ?   ?nM (h A ?nM (h A
R

0 The first two terms are the enthalpy of combustion ( hPR ) at standard temperature and

p re ssu re .

0 Qcomb ! hPR  ?nM (h A ?nM (h A P R

Table 1: Enthalpy of formation, HHV and LHV

The enthalpy of combustion also is called heating value (HV), and this is number

indicative to the useful energy content of different fuels. There are two types of heating

value: higher heating value (HHV) and the lower heating value (LHV). The HHV is

obtained when all the water formed by combustion is a liquid. The LHV is obtained when

all the water formed by the combustion is a vapor. For that HHV is more than LHV (see

Table 1). For calculations, we will assume that water formed is in the liquid state and the

0 HHV will be used for hPR . Now, we can calculate the efficiency of the boiler as:

L boiler !

Qin Qcomb

VII.

Cost of Generating Steam and Energy.

The mass flow of fuel is the product between the density and fuel flow mass and the

time of operation:

 m fuel ! V fuel q fuel

where V fuel is the density of butane gas at atmospheric pressure. Then the cost of

generating steam per unit mass of steam is:

STEAM cos t !

 m fuel Pr ice fuel  mwater

where Pr ice fuel is the price of the fuel. Also it is possible to determine the cost of

generating energy by:

ENERGY cos t !

 m fuel Pr ice fuel VI

Experimental Setup
The equipment has a data acquisition system to collect the information. Also, it will be

necessary a chronometer for estimating the time operation. A view of the real equipment

and data acquisition system is shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6: The mini-power plant

The mini-power plant has a boiler (see Figure 7), which is a dual-pass, flame through

tube type unit. A burner fan speed is electronically adjustable to operate whit a

minimum of excess of air. A vortex disc, located downstream of the boiler unit, mixes

fuel and air and sets up a rotary gas flow that results in efficient heat transfer from the

flame tube to the boilers water, (see Figure 8).

Figure 7: Boiler

Electromechanical and electronic burner and boiler controls are located within the front

operator panel enclosure. An A.G.A. certified electronic ignition gas valve and

microprocessor based gas ignition module automate and supervise flame control. A

transducer assists in regulating boiler pressure by cycling the burner on and off. A

poppet valve, located on top of the boiler, serves as a safety valve. In the event of

control malfunction, the poppet valve will open and relieve boiler pressure.

Figure 8: Forced air gas burned

The other component is the turbine and generator, (see Figure 9). The turbine consists of the following major components:

1. A precision machined, stainless steel front and rear housing. 2. A nozzle ring and a single stage shrouded impulse turbine wheel

Figure 9: Turbine and Generator

The generator is a 4-pole, permanent magnet, brushless unit. The rotor is supported by

pre-loaded precision ball bearings. The generator includes a full wave, integral rectifier

bridge that delivers direct current to the generators D.C. terminals. The generator

terminal board also carries a set of AC output terminals for experimental procedures

that may entail the use of a transformer, or deal with frequency related topics, rpm

measurement and other AC related experiments.

Figure 10: Cooling tower

Finally, the condenser towers outer mantle is formed from a single piece of aluminum,

(see Figure 10). The towers large surface area affects heat transfer to ambient air and

provides a realistic appearance. Turbine exhaust steam is piped into the bottom of the

tower. The steam is kept in close contact with the outside mantle by means of 4 baffles.

Procedure
1. At the moment of making the experiment, the steam turbine will be operational in the no load condition. So, the first step is to set the of the maximum load applied on the turbine by the generator. 2. Allow the system to reach steady state, and take readings. They are: a) Boiler temperature. b) Boiler pressure. c) Turbine inlet temperature. d) Turbine exit temperature. e) Turbine inlet pressure. f) Turbine exit pressure. g) Water flow. h) Generator amperage. i) Generator voltage. j) Time operation. k) Repeat the step 2) for and of the maximum load applied.

Example #1: Rankine cycle analysis Problem:

Steam is the working fluid in an ideal Rankine cycle. Saturated vapor enters the turbine

at 8.0MPa and saturated liquid exits the condenser at a pressure of 0.008MPa (see

Figure 11). The net power of cycle is 100MW. Determine for the cycle:

a) The thermal efficiency. b) The mass flow rate of steam. c) The rate of heat transfer, into the working fluid as it passes through the boiler. d) The rate of heat transfer, from the condensing steam as it passes through the condenser. e) The mass flow rate of condenser cooling water, if cooling water enters the condenser at 15C and exits at 35C.

Figure 11: Schematic of the Rankine cycle

Solution

Assumption: 1. Each component of the cycle is analyzed as a control volume at steady state. 2. All processes of the working fluid are internally reversible. 3. The turbine and pump operate adiabatically. 4. Kinetic and potential energy effects are negligible. 5. Saturated vapor enters the turbine. Condensate exits the condenser saturated liquid. Analysis: To begin the analysis, let us fix each of the principal states located on the accompanying as

schematic and T-s diagram. Starting at the inlet to the turbine, the pressure is 8.0MPa

and the steam is a saturated vapor, so from Table A-3 of Moran and Shapiro,

h1 ! 2758.0 kJ/kg and S1 ! 5.7432 kJ/kg - K

Stage 2 is fixed by p 2 ! 0.008 MPa and the fact that specific entropy is constant for the

adiabatic, internally reversible expansion through the turbine. Using liquid and saturated

vapor data from Table A-3 of Moran and Shapiro, we find that the quality at stage 2 is:

x2 !

S2  S f Sg  S f

5.7432  0.5926 ! 0.6745 7.6361

The enthalpy is then

h2 ! h f  x 2 h fg ! 173.88  (0.6745) 2403 .1 ! 1794 .8 kJ/kg

Stage 3 is saturated liquid at 0.008MPa, so h3 ! 173 .88 kJ/kg . Stage 4 is fixed by the

boiler pressure p 4 and the specific entropy S 4 ! S 3 . The specific enthalpy h4 can be

found by interpolation in the compressed liquid tables. However, because liquid data are

relatively sparse, it is more convenient to solve

 Wp  m

! h4  h3

fo r

h4 , using

 Wp  m

! Y 3 ( p 4  p3 ) to approximate the pump work. With this approach:

h4 ! h3 

 Wp  m

! h3  Y 3 ( p 4  p3 )

Substituting property values from Table A-3 of Moran and Shapiro:

10 6 N / m 2 1 kJ / kg ! 173.88 kJ / kg  (1.0084 v 10 3 m 3 / kg ) v (8.0  0.008) MPa v h4 1 MPa v 10 3 N m h4 ! 181.94 kJ / kg

a) The net power developed by the cycle is:

   Wnet ! Wt  W p

Energy balance for a control volume around the turbine and pump gives,

respectively

 Wt ! h1  h2  m

and

 Wp  m

! h4  h3

 where m is the mass flow rate of the steam. The rate of heat transfer to the working

fluid as it passes through the boiler is determined using an energy rate balance as:

 Qin ! h1  h4  m
the thermal efficiency is then:

  Wt  W p h1  h2  h1  h4 2758.0  1794.8   .94  173.88 kJ / kg 181 L! ! !  2758.0  181.94 kJ / kg h1  h4 Q ! 0.371 37.1%

in

b) The mass flow rate of steam can be obtained from the expression for the net power

given in part a). Thus:

 m!

10 100MW  3 kW / Mw 3600s / h ! 3.77 v10 5 kg / h  ! h1  h2  h1  h4 963.2  8.06 kj / kg  Wcycle

 c) With the expression for Qin from part a) and previously determined specific enthalpy

va l u e s:

3.77 v 10 5 kg / h 2758.0  181.94 kj / kg   ! 269.77 MW Qin ! mh1  h4 ! 10 3 kW / Mw 3600 s / h

d) Mass and energy rate balances applied to a control volume enclosing the steam side

side of the condenser give:

3.77 v 10 5 kg / h  1794.8  173.88 kj / kg   ! 169.75MW Qout ! mh2  h3 ! 3 10 kW / Mw 3600 s / h

 Alternatively, Qout can be determined from an energy rate balance on the overall

vapor power plant. At steady state, the net power developed equals the net rate of

heat transfer to the plant:

   Wcycle ! Qin  Q out

th e n ,

   Qout ! Qin Wcycle ! 269.77MW  100 MW ! 169.77MW

e) Taking a control volume around the condenser, the energy rate balance gives at

steady state:

0 y

0 ! Q cv  W cv  m cw hcw ,in  hcw ,out  mh2  h3

y y

0 y

  where mcw is the mass flow rate of the cooling water. Solving for mcw :

 mcw !

 mh2  h3 hcw,in  hcw,out

the numerator in this expression is evaluated in part d). For the cooling water,

h } h f (T ) , so with saturated liquid enthalpy value from Table A-2 Moran and Shapiro

at the entering and exiting temperatures of the cooling water:

169.75 MW  3 kW / MW 3600 s / h ! 7.3 v 10 6 kg / h  10  mcw ! 148.68  62.99 kJ / kg

Example #2: Combustion analysis of the boiler Problem:

Find the useful heat generated by the combustion of 1 lbm of ethane in a furnace in a 20

percent deficient air if the reactants are at 25 0 C and the products at 1500K. Assume

that hydrogen, being more reactive than carbon, satisfies itself first with the oxygen it

needs and burns completely to H 2 O . Five percent of the heat of combustion is lost to

the furnace exterior.

Solution
The stoichiometric equation for ethane in air is:

C2 H 6  3.5O2  13.16N 2 p 2CO2  3H 2O  13.16N 2

(where there are 3.76 mol N 2 / mol O 2 in atmospheric air, thus 13.16=3.5x3.76). With 20

percent deficient air multiply the O 2 and N 2 mol by 0.8. H 2 will burn completely to

H 2 O and C will burn partially to CO2 and partially CO :

C 2 H 6  2.8O2  10.528 N 2 p aCO 2  bCO 2  3H 2 O  10.528 N 2

carbon balance:

ab ! 2

oxygen balance:

a

b 3  ! 2. 8 2 2

thus a ! 0.6 , b ! 1.4 and the combustion equation is:

C2 H 6  2.8O2  10.528N 2 p 0.6CO2  1.4CO2  3H 2O  10.528N 2

As here is no work done in a furnace, the first law of thermodynamics for steady states

written as:

(Q !  nMh f
P

1500 K

  nMh f
R

25 C

nMh
P

f 1500 K

! 0.6 v 44.011 v  3243.4  1.4 v 28.011 v  1100.9  3 v 18.016 v  4626.2  10.528 v 28.016 v 590.8 ! 204598.4 Btu/(lb mol C 2 H 6 )

nMh
f R

25 C

! 1211.3 v 30.07  0  0 ! 36424 Btu/(lb mol C 2 H 6 )

th u s ,

(Q ! 204598.4   36424 ! 168174.6 Btu/(lb mol C 2 H 6 )  168174.6 ! 5592.8 Btu/(lb C 2 H 6 ) 30.070 ! -5592.8 v 3.32584 ! -13007.9 kj/kg C 2 H 6 !
The useful heat generated by the combustion is:

(Quseful ! 0.95 v (Q ! 0.95 v (-13007.9kJ/kg C 2 H 6 ) ! 12357.6 kJ/kg C 2 H 6

Discussion

References
Moran, M. J. and Shapiro, H. N., 1995, Fundamental of Engineering Thermodynamics,

3rd edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.

El-Wakil, M.M., 1984, Powerplant Technology, McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York.