RANKINE CYCLE

BY

VASIREDDY SRINIVASA RAO

 CONVERSION OF HEAT TO WORK
In a continuous process heat can be converted
into work and work can be converted in to heat .
for that we require a thermodynamic cyclic
process to perform.

INTRODUCTION
 Thermodynamic cycle is a number of processes
contineuing whose initial state and final state are
identical.
If these processes in a cycle are reversible then
the cycle is called reversible thermodynamic
cycle.
Thermodynamic cycle in a thermodynamic
coordinates is represented by a closed loop.
Because Initial and end states are equal.

WHAT IS A THERMODYNAMIC
CYCLE ?
HEAT ENGINE CYCLE :
In a Thermodynamic cycle process heat is being converted
into work, net work is obtained from the cycle where there is a
heat input to the cycle called heat engine cycle.

HEAT PUMP CYCLE :

Similarly In a cyclic process where work is being converted
into heat called heat pump or refrigeration cycle and these
devices are called heat pumps or refrigerators.
Thus Thermodynamic cycles are of two types.

1. Heat engine cycle

2. Heat pump cycle

 A heat engine cycle is also called a power cycle as it develops
mechanical power or mechanical work.

POWER CYCLE
 While a system is executing the cyclic process, phase changes occur in different
processes change of state takes place
in some process it is liquid and in some processes it is in vapour state .
Depending up on the phase or state of the working system power cycles are divided in to
two categories

1. Vapour power cycle

and
2. Gas power cycle

TYPES OF POWER CYCLES

Vapour power cycle :
Vapour power cycles corresponds to certain devices where
power is being developed from heat and the system
executing the cyclic process under goes a change of phase
from liquid to vapour.

Gas power cycle :

If the state of the system is always in gaseous form then it is
called Gas cycle.
The most popular and the most important power
device is the thermal power plant.
Therefore before studying a vapour power cycle which
represents the different processes in thermal power
plant we must have a look of the thermal power
plant.

ABOUT VAPOUR POWER

CYCLE
That is why to design a power plant in which thermal energy is
being converted into mechanical energy , a cyclic process is
required.
Very first phase of the design of the power plant is the
thermodynamic design.
The first phase of the thermodynamic design tells that which
should be the ideal cycle for this particular power plant.
Power plant consists of different processes which constitutes a
thermodynamic cycle because of continuous production of
power from heat
There should be an ideal processes performed by each
component for a particular power plant . so that the plant runs
efficiently with in the available operating conditions.
The ideal cycle to design a power plant is

Rankine Cycle
OVER VIEW OF POWER PLANT
 The power plant essentially consists of a boiler, turbine,
condenser and a feed pump
 Steam at high pressure and temperature enters the turbine
where steam expands from high pressure and temperature to
a low pressure and temperature by which work is being
developed
Like that turbine is the component which develops work by
receiving steam at high pressure and temperature and by
rejecting steam at low pressure and temperature.

Here high pressure and temperature steam expands because of

the several passages i.e. number of blades on the disk and on
the rotor
Thus work is being done by the expansion of steam . so turbine is
a component which develops work by receiving steam at high
pressure and temperature and rejecting the same at low
pressure and temperature.

so the principle behind this expansion is to get work falls under

the domain of turbo machines
T-S DIAGRAM
Entropy is an abstract property of steam which
increases when heat is added and decreases
when heat is rejected.
Its magnitude is such that if the temperature at
which heat is transferred is multiplied by the
change in entropy that results in the process, then
that product equals the amount of heat
transferred.

ENTROPY
Imagine unit uses steam at a pressure of 100 bar absolute, temp
566°C (839°K) and rejects it to the condenser at 30 m bar
(saturation temp 24.1°C).

PROCESS
At point “A” the condensate is at boiling temperature
corresponding to the back pressure in condenser . Sensible Heat is
added to this water to rise its temperature and pressure.
At the point “B” it reaches its saturation temperature (310.961°C)
at a pressure of 100 bar. Evaporation begins at the point “B”.
Latent heat addition is taken place from B to C .
At the point ‘C’ all the water evaporates and super heating
commences and super heat addition continuous to point D
Point ‘D’ represents superheated steam temperature is 566°C.

PROCESS
From point ‘D’ superheated Steam expands Isentropic-ally from
point ‘D’ to ‘F’ i.e. enters the turbine and rotates it.
At point ‘E’ there is no super heat left in the steam and so from ‘E
to F’ there is increasing wetness.
At ‘F’ steam is at a pressure of 30 m bar and is passed out of the
turbine to the condenser and condensation of steam takes place
from ‘F’ to ‘A’ .
At point ‘A’ the steam has all been condensed and condensate is
at boiling temperature ready to begin another cycle.

PROCESS
AB – Heating of feed water (i.e. sensible heat addition) = 1307 KJ/Kg
Sensible heat is increased with increase in Boiler pressure
Absolute Pressure (bar) Saturation Temperature (°C) Sensible heat KJ/KG

50 263.9 1154.5

100 311.00 1408.0

150 342.1 1611.0

200 365.7 1826.5

221.2 374.15 2107.4

All sensible heat is supplied in feed water heaters and Economizer and
last bit of sensible heat is added in lower portion of water walls.

SUMMARY
BC – Evaporation of water in boiler (i.e. latent heat addition)=1319.7KJ/Kg
Absolute Pressure (bar) Saturation Temperature (°C) Latent Heat KJ/KG

50 263.9 1639.7

100 311.0 1319.7

150 342.1 1004.0

200 365.7 591.9

221.2 374.15 0

The amount of latent heat required to convert boiling water to dry saturated
steam reduces with increase of pressure. At the critical pressure of 221.2
bar absolute it is zero.

SUMMARY
CD – Superheating of steam (i.e. superheat addition) = 811.6KJ/KG

Pressure Bar absolute Superheat required KJ/KG

50 800.9

100 821.5

150 885.4

200 1033.2

Quantity of heat required to superheat steam to a given temperature

varies with pressure

SUMMARY
DF – Expansion of steam in turbine, point ‘E’ denotes demarcation
between super heater and wet steam.

FA – Condensation of steam in the condenser.

SUMMARY
THERMAL EFFICIENCY OF THE CYCLE
Total heat = Sensible heat + Latent heat + Superheat
= 1307 + 1319.7 + 811.6
= 3438.3 KJ/KG
heat rejected = 1917.2 KJ/KG

Useful heat = Total heat – Rejected heat

So, thermal efficiency = (Total heat – Rejected heat)/Total heat

= (3438.3 – 1917.2)/3438.3
= 1521.1/3438.3
= 0.4423 or 44.23 %.

THERMAL EFFICIENCY OF THE CYCLE

If steam is not superheated the total amount of heat in this cycle will be addition
of sensible heat and latent heat only i.e.
1307 + 1319.7 = 2626.7 KJ/KG
So, thermal efficiency = (Total input – reject heat)/Total heat input
= (2626.7 – 1917.2) / (2626.7)
= 709.5/2626.7
= 0.2701 or 27.01%.

Hence efficiency of the basic Rankine cycle can be improved by increasing the
superheat. But this scope becomes limited due to limitations of materials which
can withstand very high temperature and the cost associated with it.

CONCEPT : SUPERHEATING OF STEAM ADDS TO

EFFICIENCY
 .

RE HEATING: EXPAND THE STEAM IN THE TURBINE TO SOME SUITABLE

INTERMEDIATE CONDITION AND THEN PASS IT BACK TO THE BOILER TO BE
REHEATED TO SOME HIGH TEMPERATURE. IT IS THEN PIPED BACK TO THE
TURBINE TO CONTINUE ITS EXPANSION
D – G : Expansion of steam in Turbine from pressure 100 to 20 bar
and temperature 566 to 311Deg C
G – H : Reheating steam from 311to 566 Deg C
HJL : Expansion of steam in IP &LP Turbine
Efficiency of the cycle : 46.09 %
Improvement of frequency due to Reheat = 44.23 to46.09%

CONCEPT OF REHEATING
Firstly the heat rejected can go to waste via the condenser cooling
water and secondly the steam can reject heat to the feed water
by means of feed heaters.
In the second case, all the heat is kept within the cycle and not lost.

REGENERATIVE CYCLE
REGENERATIVE CYCLE
Total heat supplied = Sensible heat from M to B + Latent Heat + Superheat
Now sensible heat = Total heat at B – Total heat at M= 322.2 KJ/KG (from
steam table)
total heat supplied = 322.2 + 13129.7 + 811.6
= 2453 KJ/KG
Heat rejected = Area under ‘Alrm’
= 1192.2 KJ/KG (from steam table)
So efficiency = (Total heat – Rejected heat)/Total heat
= (2453-1192.2)/(2453)
= 1260.8/2453
= 0.5140 or 51.4 %

REGENERATIVE CYCLE -EFFICIENCY

Basic efficiency = 44.23 %
Reheat cycle efficiency = 46.09 %
Feed heating cycle efficiency = 51.40 %

SUMMARY