Gas Power Cycles

DEFINITION OF A CYCLE
A cycle is defined as a repeated series of operations occurring in a certain order. It may be
repeated by repeating the processes in the same order. The cycle may be of imaginary perfect
engine or actual engine. The former is called ideal cycle and the latter actual cycle. In ideal
cycle all accidental heat losses are prevented and the working substance is assumed to behave
like a perfect working substance

AIR-STANDARD CYCLE

Air standard cycle refers to thermodynamic cycle being studied with certain assumptions, so as
to use the principles of thermodynamics conveniently. It is the most simplified form of
thermodynamic cycle under consideration.
General assumptions made for a cycle to be air-standard cycle are as follows:
(i) Air is the working fluid and behaves as a perfect gas.
(ii) Working fluid does not get changed in its mass and composition.
(iii) Thermodynamic processes constituting cycle are reversible.
(iv) There is no heat loss from system to surrounding and vice-versa.
(v) During heat addition process, heat is assumed to be supplied from a high temperature
source.
(vi) During heat rejection process, heat is assumed to be rejected to a low temperature
sink.
(vii) Specific heats of working fluid do not change throughout the cycle.
After incorporating above assumptions in thermodynamic cycle analysis, the analysis done is
called air standard cycle analysis. Results obtained from such analysis disagree quite largely
from the actual performances due to over simplification, but to begin with, such analysis is
necessary.

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AIR STANDARD EFFICIENCY
To compare the effects of different cycles, it is of paramount importance that the effect of the
calorific value of the fuel is altogether eliminated and this can be achieved by considering air
(which is assumed to behave as a perfect gas) as the working substance in the engine cylinder.
The efficiency of engine using air as the working medium is known as an “Air standard
efficiency”. This efficiency is often called ideal efficiency.
The actual efficiency of a cycle is always less than the air-standard efficiency of that cycle
under ideal conditions. This is taken into account by introducing a new term “Relative
efficiency” which is defined as :
Actual thermal efficiency
 Relative 
Air standard efficiency
The analysis of all air standard cycles is based upon the above assumptions

Air standard or ideal efficiency can be given as follows:

Ideal work done i.e (heat supplied - heat rejected)

 thermal 
Heat supplied
heat rejected
thermal  1 -
heat supplied
Mean effective pressure (m.e.p.) is the parameter which indicates the average pressure
throughout the cycle. Mathematically, it is given as follows:
work done per cycle
m.e.p 
stroke volume (swept volume)

The power cycles are:

1. Carnot cycle
2. Otto cycle
3. Diesel cycle
4. Rankine cycle – this is a steam cycle.

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THE CARNOT CYCLE

This cycle has the highest possible efficiency and consists of four simple operations namely,

(a) Isothermal expansion

(b) Adiabatic expansion
(c) Isothermal compression
(d) Adiabatic compression.

The condition of the Carnot cycle may be imagined to occur in the following way : One kg of a
air is enclosed in the cylinder which (except at the end) is made of perfect non-conducting
material. A source of heat ‘H’ is supposed to provide unlimited quantity of heat, non-conducting
cover ‘C’ and a sump ‘S’ which is of infinite capacity so that its temperature remains unchanged
irrespective of the fact how much heat is supplied to it. The temperature of source H is T1 and the
same is of the working substance. The working substance while rejecting heat to sump ‘S’ has
the temperature. T2 i.e., the same as that of sump S. Following are the four stages of the Carnot
cycle.
P T
1
Isothermal
2 1 2

Adiabatic Adiabatic

4 3
Isothermal
4 3

v s

Process 1 – 2: Isothermal expansion which takes place at temperature T1. This is a constant heat
supply (addition) to the system. The heat supplied is given by the expression:

V2
Q add  mRT1 ln
V1

Process 2 – 3: Reversible adiabatic expansion process, the temperature falls from T1 to T3

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Process 3 – 4: isothermal compression process at temperature T3. Heat is rejected during this
operation. The heat rejected is given by:

V3
Q reject  mRT3 ln
V4

Process 4- 1: Reversible adiabatic compression process during which temperature increases from
T3 to T1.

To get a closed cycle and, considering the adiabatic processes the expansion and compression
ratios are equal, that is,

V2 V
 3
V1 V4

Work done = Heat supplied – Heat rejected

= Qadd - Qreject

V2 V
= mRT1 ln - mRT3 ln 3
V1 V4

Work done
Thermal efficiency 
Heat supplied

V2
mRln (T1 - T3 )
V3
=
V
mRT1ln 2
V3

T1 - T3 T
=  1- 3
T1 T1

Example: A Carnot engine working between 400 ℃ and 40 ℃ produces 130 kJ of work per
cycle. Determine:

i. The engine thermal efficiency

ii. The heat added

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Example: 0.5 kg of air (ideal gas) executes a Carnot power cycle having a thermal efficiency of
50 per cent. The heat transfer to the air during the isothermal expansion is 40 kJ. At the
beginning of the isothermal expansion the pressure is 7 bar and the volume is 0.12 m3.
Determine:

i. The maximum and minimum temperatures for the cycle

ii. The volume at the of the isothermal expansion in m3

iii. The heat transfer for each of the four processes in kJ.

For air: cv = 0.721 kJ/kg K, and cp = 1.008 kJ/kg K.

[585.4 K; 292.7 K; 0.193 m3; 40kJ, 0, -40kJ, 0]

Example: An inventor claims that a new heat cycle will develop 0.4 kW for a heat addition of
32.5 kJ/min. The temperature of heat source is 1990 K and that of sink is 850 K. Is the claim
possible?

The Otto Cycle or Constant volume cycle

 Otto cycle is a constant volume heat addition and rejection cycle.

 The Otto cycle forms the basis for the working of the petrol internal combustion engine.

 The Otto cycle has two constant volume and two adiabatic processes as shown below;

P T 3
3
Qadd Isentropic expansion Constant volume

2 2 4
4
Qreject
Isentropic compression 1 Constant volume
1

v s
Stroke volume or swept volume: Vs = V1 – V2

Clearance volume: V2
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Thermodynamic processes constituting Otto cycle are:

1 – 2: Adiabatic compression process, (-ve work, Wcompr), the piston moves from volume
V1 to volume V2

2 – 3: Reversible constant volume heat addition process, (+ve heat, Qadd), heat added is
given as: Q add  mc v (T3 - T2 )

3 – 4: Adiabatic expansion process, (+ve work, Wexpan)

4 – 1: Reversible constant volume heat rejection process (-ve heat, Qreject), heat rejected is
given as: Qreject  mc v (T4 - T1 )

Compression ratio for the cycle is defined as the ratio of volumes of air before and after
compression, denoted by rv.

Since v1 = v4 and v2 = v3; we can write;

v1 v
rv   4
v2 v3

Defining the air standard efficiency of Otto cycle as:

Net work
 Otto 
Heat added

For a cycle; Net work = Heat added – heat rejected

= mc v (T3 - T2 ) - mc v (T4 - T1 )

And cycle efficiency is:

mc v (T3 - T2 ) - mc v (T4 - T1 )
 Otto 
mc v (T3 - T2 )

(T4 - T1 )
 Otto  1 -
(T3 - T2 )

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 For a perfect gas, by gas laws and isentropic process ( Pv  MRT; and Pv  C ), we have:

 1  1
T2 v   -1 T v 
  1   rv and 3   4   rv - 1
T1  v2  T4  v3 

Or; T2  T1 rv -1 and T3  T4 rv - 1

Substituting to efficiency;

(T4 - T1 )
 Otto  1 -
(T4 - T1 ) rv - 1
1
giving;  Otto  1 -  -1
rv

Air standard efficiency for Otto cycle thus depends upon the compression ratio (rv) and the ratio
of specific heats γ for the particular gas.

Example: The efficiency of an Otto cycle is 60% and γ = 1.5. What is the compression ratio?
[6.25]

Example: An engine working on the Otto cycle is supplied with air at 0.1 MPa and 27 ℃. If the
compression ratio is 8 and the heat supplied to the air per working cycle is 1400 kJ/kg, calculate:

i. The maximum pressure and temperature for the cycle

ii. The cycle efficiency

For air take cp = 1005 J/kg K and cv = 718 J/kg K.

Example: A petrol engine working on the Otto cycle has a compression ratio of 6. The initial
pressure and temperature of air are 1 bar and 37 ℃. The maximum pressure in the cycle is 30
bar. For a unit mass flow, calculate:

i. P, v, and T at all points of the cycle

ii. The cycle efficiency

iii. The ratio of heat supplied to heat rejected.

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 Assume γ = 1.4 and cv = 0.717 kJ/kg K

Example: In an Otto cycle, the pressure at the end of compression is 15 times that at the start, the
temperature of air at the beginning of compression is 38 ℃ and the maximum temperature
attained in the cycle is 1950 ℃. Determine:

i. Compression ratio

ii. Thermal efficiency of the cycle

iii. Work done.

Take γ for air = 1.4

The Diesel Cycle or the Constant Pressure cycle

Heat is added at constant pressure instead of at constant volume. The cycle represents the cycle
in actual diesel engines.

The cycle comprises of the following operations

i. 1 – 2 adiabatic compression
ii. 2 – 3 constant pressure heat addition
iii. Adiabatic expansion process
iv. Constant volume heat rejection
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P T
2 3

Qadd Isentropic expansion Constant pressure

4
Isentropic compression 2 4
Qreject
1
1 Constant volume

Stroke volume: Vs = V1 – V2 v s
Clearance volume: V2
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During the heat addition process the volume changes from V2 to V3 and temperature T2 to T3,
corresponding to point 3. Point 3 is called the cut-off point.

Heat supplied at constant pressure Qadd = mcp (T3 – T2)

Heat rejected at constant volume, Qreject = mcv (T4 – T1)

Work done = Heat supplied – Heat rejected

= mcp (T3 – T2) - mcv (T4 – T1)

Net work
Thus;  Diesel 
Heat added

mc p (T3 - T2 ) - mc v (T4 - T1 )
 Diesel 
mc p (T3 - T2 )

(T4 - T1 )
 Diesel  1 -
 (T3 - T2 )

v1 v volume at cut - off

Let compression ratio, rv  , and cut-off ratio,   3 
v2 v2 clearance volume

 1
T2 v 
During adiabatic compression process 1 – 2,   1   rv - 1 , or T2  T1 rv - 1
T1  v2 

 1
T3 v 
During constant pressure process 2 – 3,   3    , or T3  T2 .   T1.  . rv - 1
T2  v2 

 1  -1
T3 v  r 
During adiabatic expansion process 3 – 4,   4    v 
T4  v3   

v4 v v v r
ie. = 1  1 2 v
v3 v3 v 2 v3 

T3  T1 (rv ) - 1
therefore T4   -1
  -1
 T1  
 rv   rv 
   
   

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by inserting values of T2, T3 and T4 in the efficiency equation we get;

 Diesel  1 -
(T4 - T1 )
 1-

T .   - T1 
 (T3 - T2 ) 
  . T1 . (rv ) - 1 - T1. (rv ) - 1 

(  - 1)
 1-
 (rv ) 1 (  - 1)

1    - 1
Or  Diesel  1 -   -1
 (r) -1  

Example: A diesel engine has a compression ratio of 15 and heat addition at constant pressure
takes place at 6% of the stroke. Find the air standard efficiency of the engine. Take γ for air as
1.4.

v1
Solution: compression ratio: rv   15
v2

v3 volume at cut - off

Cut-off ratio:   
v2 clearance volume

But v3 – v2 = 6% of Vs (Vs – stroke volume)

= 0.06 (V1 – V2) = 0.06(15V2 – V2)

= 0.84 V2 or V3 = 1.84 V2

v3 volume at cut - off 1.84 V2

Therefore,      1.84
v2 clearance volume V2

1    - 1 1 1.841.4 - 1
Thus;  Diesel  1 -   - 1   1.4(15) 1.4-1  1.84 - 1 
 (r) -1    

= 1- (0.2417 × 1.605) = 0.612

Example: a diesel engine has a compression ratio of 20 and cut-off takes place at 5% of the
stroke. Find the air-standard efficiency. Assume γ = 1.4.

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Example: Determine the ideal efficiency of the diesel engine having a cylinder with bore 250
mm, stroke 375 mm and clearance volume 1.5 ×10-3 m3, with fuel cut-off occurring at 5% of the
stroke. Assume γ = 1.4.

Simple Rankine Cycle

 A vapour cycle is a cycle in which the working fluid is able to change from liquid phase
to gaseous phase and back during the execution of the cycle.
 Rankine cycle is the theoretical cycle on which the steam turbine works.
 The Rankine cycle system consists of a pump, boiler, turbine, and condenser.
 The pump delivers liquid water to the boiler.
 The boiler heated by source of heat (fuel combustion, electric power, or solar heat)
converts water to superheated steam.
 The steam is used to run the turbine which converts the steam heat to mechanical
(shaft) power that drives the generator.
 Steam leaves the turbine and becomes cooled to liquid state in the condenser. Then
the liquid is pressurized by the pump and goes back to the boiler. And the cycle
continues. Schematically, this process is represented in Figure below.

Figure : Rankine cycle layout.

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  In an ideal Rankine cycle, all the units operate with the steady-state flow, and the kinetic
and potential energy of the fluid are considered to be negligible compared to the
temperature and pressure effects.
The work and heat terms for each component of the cycle can be expressed as follows.

 Process 1-2: Reversible adiabatic (isentropic) pumping process in the feed pump –
since the process is not accompanied by any heat exchange with the environment.
The work done by the pump to compress water (Wpump) can be represented as the change in
enthalpy (H) of the water (fluid) before entering the pump and after leaving the pump:
Wpump = H2−H1 = m (h2 – h1) = mv(p2 – p1)
Where v is specific volume of liquid obtained at the condenser pressure, p1
The feed pump handles liquid water which is incompressible, also the feed pump work term is a
very small quantity in comparison to turbine work, WT, so it is usually neglected, especially at
low boiler pressure P2.

 Process 2-3: Constant pressure heat addition in the boiler.

The energy balance in the boiler can be expressed as the change in enthalpy of the fluid from the
"before" state (compressed liquid) to "after" state (superheated steam):
Qin=H3 − H2 = m (h3 – h2)
Where Qin is the heat used by the boiler. This heat is supplied to the boiler from the fuel burned
or solar concentrator. There is no pressure change in the boiler, only heat transfer to the fluid;
therefore, no mechanical work is done here.

 Process 3-4: Reversible adiabatic expansion in the turbine

The work done through the expansion process in the turbine is the useful work, which is the main
purpose of the cycle:
Wturbine = H3 − H4 = m (h3 – h4)
Here, we again assume that there is no heat exchange with the surrounding, so all the fluid
energy change is converted to work. The expression gives us the positive work value.

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  Process 4-1: Constant pressure heat transfer in the condenser

Lastly, the process 4-1 is steam cooling and condensation. The energy balance on the condenser
gives:
Qout = H4−H1 = m (h4 – h1)
At this stage, the extra heat is withdrawn from the system, and water returns to liquid state. This
is important for the Rankine cycle from technological standpoint, since pumps employed in the
system require liquid medium to work efficiently and may have problems with water-vapor
mixtures.

The energy balance for the whole cycle is then can be expressed via the following equation – the
first law of thermodynamics for a cycle:

(Qin − Qout) = (Wturbine− Wpump)

The net work done by the system is: Wnet = Wturbine - Wpump.

Therefore, the thermal efficiency of this cycle can be presented as follows:

Wnet W - Wpump
Rankine   turbine
Qin Qin

(h 3 - h 4 ) - (h 2 - h1 )

(h 3 - h 2 )

If the pump work, Wpump , is neglected:

Wturbine h -h
 Rankine   3 4
Q in h3 - h2

The basic Rankine cycle is presented in terms of temperature and entropy change in Figure
below. The ideal state of this cycle is reflected in the vertical lines 1-2 and 3-4, when the fluid is
compressed and expanded. The processes are shown to proceed isentropically, i.e., without
entropy change. That rarely happens in real life. Some fluid friction losses and dissipation of
some heat to the surrounding usually makes this system deviate from the ideality (as for
example, shown by the dashed lines).

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 Figure: Temperature-entropy diagram of the ideal Rankine cycle – (T-s diagram)

Varieties of the Rankine Cycle

There are several scenarios of employment of the Rankine steam cycle in power plants. Those
scenarios intend to increase the overall efficiency of the system.

There are three ways to increase the efficiency of the basic Rankine cycle.

 Decreasing condenser pressure: This results in lower heat rejection temperature of the
fluid in the condenser (pushing point 4 on the diagram downward), thus allowing the
system to produce greater network. (Fig. a)

 Superheating steam to a higher temperature: allows achieving higher temperature
differential, thus increasing the amount of work done by the cycle. (Fig. b)

 Increasing the boiler pressure: results in higher average steam temperature in the
boiler. This effect allows additional work to be done in phase 2-3 (Fig. c). However, there
is some loss of useful work in phase 3-4 because of necessity to re-heat the steam.
Reheating is used to mitigate higher moisture content of the high-pressure steam.

The above-described efficiency modifications are illustrated in Figure below

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Figure: Effects of different parameters on the work output of the Rankine cycle:
(a) Effect of decreasing condenser's pressure,
(b) Effect of superheating steam to a higher temperature,
(c) Effect of increasing boiler pressure.

The shaded area shows the extra work performed by the system due to each parameter change.
The red curve corresponds to the basic cycle, and green curve shows the adjusted cycle.

Example: In a steam power cycle, the steam is supplied at 15 bar and dry saturated. The
condenser pressure is 0.4 bar. Calculate the Rankine cycle efficiency. Neglect the pump work.
[0.2354]

Example: in a steam turbine power plant, steam at 20 bar and 360 ℃ is expanded to 0.08 bar. It
then enters the condenser, where it is condensed to saturated liquid water. The pump feeds back
the water into the boiler. Assume an ideal process and fine per kg of steam the network and the
cycle efficiency. [969.6 kJ/kg; 0.325]

Brayton Cycle

The Brayton cycle (or Joule cycle) represents the operation of a gas turbine engine. The cycle
consists of four processes, as shown in Figure below:

 a - b Adiabatic, quasi-static (or reversible) compression in the inlet and compressor;

 b - c Constant pressure fuel combustion (idealized as constant pressure heat addition);
 c - d Adiabatic, quasi-static (or reversible) expansion in the turbine and exhaust nozzle,
with which we
1. take some work out of the air and use it to drive the compressor, and
2. take the remaining work out and use it to accelerate fluid for jet propulsion, or to
turn a generator for electrical power generation;
 d - a Cool the air at constant pressure back to its initial condition.

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Figure: Thermodynamic model of gas turbine engine cycle for power generation

Open cycle operation

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Closed Cycle operation

Figure: Options for operating Brayton cycle gas turbine engines

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