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Thermo Fluids-II: Module-1 ((Thermodynamics
y
of p
power p
plant cycles)
y
)
(Autumn 2014)
Dr.M. Ramgopal, Mechanical Engineering, IIT Kharagpur
Introduction
Electrical energy is considered to be energy of highest
grade as it can be converted into almost all other forms of
energy with
ith very high
hi h efficiency
ffi i
Per capita consumption of electricity is considered to be an
i di i off the
indication
h development
d l
off the
h country
Per capita consumption of electricity is increasing
continuously
i
l in
i India.
I di
However, the per capita electricity consumption in India is
still much smaller than that of most of the developed
countries
In India, a major part of electricity is generated in coal based thermal power plants. It is
expected that these thermal power plants will continue to dominate the energy sector in the
coming decades also
However, Indian coal has low calorific value and high ash content, as a result, per kWh
consumption of coal is higher in India ( 0.7 kg/kWh) compared to other countries ( 0.45
kg/kWh
g/
for US p
plants))
The poor quality of coal affects both the plants thermal performance as well as emissions
Advanced and innovative technologies are needed to address these issues
Coal based thermal power plants also dominate the energy sector in many other
countries!
Hence, proper understanding and improving the overall performance of coal and
other fossil fuel based thermal power plants is very important for these countries.
Coal
Natural Gas
Various types of petroleum products such as diesel
Nuclear fuels
Solar energy
Geothermal energy
Ocean Thermal Energy etc.
The simple Rankine cycle deviates from the Carnot cycle as the heat addition
process in the boiler is no longer isothermal
In view of the above, in Rankine cycle a compromise is made between efficiency and
practical problems, which calls for deviation from the ideal Carnot cycle.
Steady State, Steady Flow Energy equation (one inlet and one outlet):
In terms of mean temperature Tm the thermal efficiency of the cycle, is given by:
Since Tm is less than T3, for same maximum and minimum temperatures, the efficiency
of Rankine cycle is always less than that of Carnot cycle!
Second law or exergetic efficiency of the cycle, 2nd is defined as:
F
From
property data
d
(EES)
Given data:
Boiler pressure = 163 bar, Condenser pressure = 0.07 bar
Highest temperature of heat addition (T3) = 538oC
Results show that for given boiler and condenser pressures and heat addition
temperature there is an optimum intermediate pressure at which the efficiency
temperature,
reaches a maximum
Pinch
point
L
In systems where either the mass flow rate of the external
fluid and/or its specific heat is very large, then the slope
is small.
This puts a constraint on the amount of superheat/reheat
that can be employed for a given heat transfer rate.
Pinch
point
In a PWR based power plant, due to operational constraints the maximum temperature
of the pressurized water is limited. In addition, since the cp value of water is very high,
the temperature variation is small Limited scope for superheat steam at turbine
inlet is close to saturation
For the same pinch point temperature difference, in a gas cooled reactor or in a
conventional coal based power plant, the temperature gradient is very steep, hence it is
possible to employ superheat/reheat in these systems
Effect of pressure for plants with low external temperature variation in boiler
Property data:
Results:
The example shows that of the total entropy generation in the power plant, almost
76% is generated in the sub
sub-cooled
cooled region of the steam generator itself, even though
the heat transfer rate in this region is about 42% of the total input.
This is obviously due to heat transfer taking place over a very large temperature
difference in this region.
This remains true for all the external heat sources (e.g. PWR or flue gas based)
Analysis
y
of simple
p
Rankine cycle
y
shows that the
irreversibility due to heat transfer is very high in the
subcooled liquid region due to the large temperature
difference between the heat source and the working
fluid (feed water)
Id ll this
Ideally,
thi irreversibility
i
ibilit can be
b eliminated
li i t d if the
th
feedwater enters the boiler at point b, instead of point 2.
Since it is not possible to heat the feed water reversibly by direct exchange
of heat with the expanding steam in the turbine, in practice, separate
feedwater heaters are used in all steam power plants
p
g upon
p the type,
yp , feedwater heaters can be classified as:
Depending
Open or direct contact type feedwater heaters
Closed or indirect contact type feedwater heaters
Drain cascaded backward
Drain cascaded forward
IIn actual
t l power plants,
l t the
th feedwater
f d t is
i heated
h t d internally
i t
ll using
i g as many as
5 to 6 feedwater heaters, out of which at least one is an open feedwater
heater.
External irreversibility
Open Feedwater heater (OFW):
Internal irreversibility
Worked out example: Steam power plant with an open feedwater heater
Given:
Wnet = 500 MW
Pressures: Condenser = 0.07 bar,, Boiler = 75 bar,, Feedwater heater = 35 bar
Heat source: Inlet temperature = 318oC, Outlet temperature = 289oC
p
difference between heat source ((inlet)) and boiler exit = 18 K
Temperature
Heat sink: water inlet temperature = 30oC , water outlet temperature = 35oC
Find:
1) Thermal efficiency of the plant
2) Turbine and pump power, heat transfer in boiler and condenser
3) Mass flow rate of steam through boiler and steam extraction fraction
3) Entropy generation (total, condenser, boiler and feedwater heater)
www.crazyengineers.com
2.
6
3
7
2
7
2
Governing equations:
1) Boiler:
2) Turbine:
T bi
Governing equations:
3) Condenser:
4) Pump:
Governing equations:
5) Closed feedwater heater:
6) Throttle valve:
Governing equations:
To solve the problem, we need to specify the condition of feedwater (3) and bleed
steam (7) by specifying Terminal Temperature Differences (TTD) = (t7 t3) & (tsat,p6t7)
R.S. Yadav and Vaibhav Chauhan, Supercritical Technology in Indian Power Sector, National Seminar on
Thermal Power Plant Performance Management (NSTPPPM), 2014
Subcritical cycle
Supercritical cycle
supercritical
c t ca stea
steam ge
generator
e ato tthe
e p
properties
ope t es o
of water
ate cchange
a ge
In a supe
gradually without undergoing any sudden phase change!
For a given boiler exit temperature (say 700oC), efficiency of SC cycle increases with
boiler pressure,
pressure however,
however
The turbine exit quality decreases as the boiler pressure increases
Hence in actual power plants, reheat is always employed with SC cycle to reduce the
liquid fraction in the turbine
It is seen that for fixed boiler pressures, SC cycle performance exceeds that of a
subcritical Rankine cycle only when the boiler exit temperature is above a certain value
Due to continuous improvement in materials and manufacturing technologies, it is now
possible to operate coal based power plants at much higher pressures and
temperatures
p
Supercritical cycles are becoming, a norm rather than an exception, especially when
the coal is of high quality
The boiler pressure is very high at high temperatures (of the order of 100 bar)
The condenser pressure is very low at low condensing temperatures (of the order of 0.1 bar)
Very high
V
hi h pressure in
i boiler
b il and
d very low
l
pressure in
i condenser
d
are not
desirable due to several practical problems
e.g. at 40oC, Ammonia has saturation pressure of 15.6 bar, while it is 0.07 bar for water
The above facts, give rise to the concept of topping and bottoming cycles, in
which a high boiling point temperature is used in the topping cycle and a low
boiling point fluid is used as working fluid in the bottoming cycle
In gas cycles the working fluid does not undergo any phase change all
the heat transfer processes are sensible processes, and hence are nonisothermal
Among the gas cycles, the Brayton cycle is most widely used in many
applications including for large scale power generation
Since Brayton cycle employs a gas turbine for generating power, Brayton
cycle is also called as a gas turbine cycle
All commercial aircraft systems are based on the gas turbine cycle
Gas turbines are also used in various industries for driving mechanical and
electrical equipment such as compressors,
compressors pumps etc
Due to their high power-to-weight ratios, gas turbines were also used in
some of the racing cars and there are efforts to use them in railways also!
However,
However gas turbines do suffer from some major disadvantages:
For the same maximum and minimum temperatures, their
efficiency is much lower compared to a vapour cycle
or reactor,
t as the
th case may be
b att point
i t2
expands
p
to a lower p
pressure at p
point 4
6. Exhaust gas from turbine at point 4 is cooled in the
heat exchanger (HR) to initial condition 1
Note:
a) This is a theoretical cycle, since in practice, mass
balance cannot be maintained with continuous addition of
fuel unless heat is directly added by some other way.
fuel,
way
b) Since this is closed cycle, any gas can be used as the
working fluid
c)) The
Th pressure att point
i t 1 (and
( d point
i t 4) can be
b higher
hi h
than atmospheric pressure Dense gas cycles
HHX
In single shaft systems, the rotational speed of gas turbine and the external load are
same, as they are mounted on the same shaft
In a two shaft system, the speed at which the gas turbine and load operate can be
different. This is done by splitting the turbine into two parts HT and LT
The high pressure turbine (HT) called as gas generator is connected to the
compressor and drives the compressor
The low pressure turbine (LT) connected to the load can operate at variable speed
Qin
Air
3
Qout
Ideal Brayton cycle
Qin
Air
3
Qout
Ideal Brayton cycle
2.Hightemperatureheatexchanger,CC(Process23:Isobaricheataddition):
Qin
Air
2
Qout
Ideal Brayton cycle
Qin
Air
2
Qout
Ideal Brayton cycle
Since there is no pressure drop during heat addition (2-3) and heat rejection (4-1);
Qin
Air
2
Qout
Ideal Brayton cycle
From the above equations it is clear that for a given working fluid (fixed ) the thermal
efficiency of a simple, ideal Brayton cycle is independent of the minimum and
p
((T1 and T3) and depends
p
onlyy on the p
pressure ratio rp, and
maximum temperatures
increases continuously with rp.
T3
will be the system as the mass flow rate of the gas for
the same net power output will be lower
The maximum temperature T3 is limited by the
1
2
From the expression for net specific power output it can be shown that for a given gas the
net specific power output reaches a maximum when:
Intermsofthemaximumandminimumtemperaturesandpressureratios,thenetpower
outputisgivenby:
Given:
Find:
Performance
f
off Brayton cycle can be improved significantly
f
by:
1. Regeneration
2. Intercooling between compression processes
3. Reheating between expansion processes
4. Water injection after compression
Out of the above,
Regeneration
Regeneration
Given:
Find:
0.4
th
th,simple
0.3
0.2
th,regenerative
0.1
T1 = 323 K,
K T4 = 1200 K,
K C = 0.87,
0 87 T = 0.9,
0 9 R = 0.9
09
0
5
10
15
rp
20
25
30
Results show that for a given maximum heat addition and minimum heat rejection
temperatures and non-ideal compressor and turbine,
a) The efficiency of the regenerative Brayton cycle reaches a maximum at a particular
pressure ratio, which is much less than that of a simple cycle
b) Beyond a certain high pressure ratio, the efficiency of simple Brayton cycle is better
than a regenerative Brayton cycle
Typical results
Given:
Find:
Evaporative cooling:
The air at the inlet to the compressor is cooled by making it pass through an
evaporative cooler
Since the compressor and turbine in gas turbine plants are typically,
constant volume flow components, the lower temperature air at the inlet to
the compressor increases the mass flow rate and hence the power output
The large amount of energy available at the exit of the turbine in a gas turbine
power plant can be used as heat input for a steam power plant
Such a system which combines a gas turbine cycle with a steam power plant
cycle is called as a combined cycle power plants
Combined cycle power plants offer very high overall efficiency of the order of
50% or more, in addition to other environmental benefits
These plants are simpler compared to steam power plants due to the absence
off coall handling
h dli g units,
it scrubbers
bb
etc.
t Their
Th i start-up
t t
i also
is
l very fast.
f t
Sometimes a Supplementary Firing (SF) equipment may be used to boost up the
output from the steam turbine
Studies
St
di show
h that
th t from
f
t t l costt off operation
total
ti point
i t off view:
i
1. Gas turbine plants are good for peak load operations, while
2. Steam turbine plants are good for base load operation
3. Combined power plants are good a compromise between gas turbine and steam
power plants
Combined cycle power plant concepts (Alex Lezuo, Siemens, Taylor & Francis, 2007)
Simple system for improving the heat rate of existing coal fired power
plants with minimum investment and minimum lead time (+)
2.
3.
In stead of generating steam, the gas turbine exhaust gases can also be
used for heating the feedwater,
feedwater thus eliminating the bleed stem from
steam turbine, thereby improving the output of the steam turbine ()
Can be used with fuels other natural gas, e.g. coal ((+))
Permits use of lower cost fuels such as coal in an environment friendly
manner (+)
Very complex system and suitability depends upon relative costs of coal
and NG ()
Cogeneration
It has long been used in industries and by municipalities that need both
electricity and steam (say for house heating in winter)
Where:
co = cogeneration plant efficiency
PE = Electrical power generated (MWh)
Qu = Useful heat supplied from the plant (MWh)
Qin = Heat added to the plant through the fuel (MWh)
Cogeneration (contd.)
If electricity and steam are generated individually, then the amount of heat to
be added per unit total energy (electrical + heat) output is given by:
Where:
E = Fraction of electrical energy of the total energy output;
Hence,cogenerationisbeneficial,if:
Given Data:
Steam turbine:
Power output (net): 25 MW;
Steam supply to turbine: 30 bar
bar, 450oC,
C
pressure of bleed steam to SWH: 2 bar,
mass flow rate of bleed steam to SWH: 17 kg/s,
Isentropic eff.: Turbine: 80%, Condenser sat. temp: 25oC,
no subcooling in condenser
Electric generators: 95 % efficiency
District heating: Supply temp: 115oC, return temperature: 75oC
To find:
Tri-generation
Steam from the boiler or gas from a gas turbine is used for:
Production of electricity in the steam turbine-generator (PE)
Production
P d i off heat
h
or process steam/hot
/h water for
f heating
h i purposes (Qu)
Production of refrigeration/air conditioning using an absorption chiller (Qr)
The ratio of electricity (PE), heat (Qu) and refrigeration (Qr) can vary
d
depending
di g upon the
th requirements
i
t
(Qu)
(Qr)
(PE)
Concept of tri-generation
Tri-generation
A typical
typical, gas turbine based tri
tri-generation
generation plant (Dusan Medved,
Medved 2011)