Laboratory #2.

Efficiency of mini thermal plant

Edisson Guzmán, Brayan Leguizamón, Daniel Arguello, Felipe Ramírez.

Abstract

This laboratory presents the main results of the thermodynamic study carried out
on the use of a heat source to generate energy through a Rankine cycle system in
which diesel was used as fuel and water as a working fluid. The procedure to
analyze the behavior of the proposed cycle consisted of letting the turbine of the
cycle arrive at some indicated Rpm and enter steady state, with the fluid used the
system a phase change was obtained depending on the point in which it was found
in the cycle.

Theoretical Framework

What is a Rankine cycle?

The cycle that follows the steam cycle in the combined cycle power plants
corresponds to the so-called Rankine Cycle and is the technological application of
the Carnot cycle for the case that the motor fluid is a condensable fluid and during
its evolution there are phase changes . In a simplified way, and for the basic cycle,
the evolution of the fluid follows the following stages:

 A step of expansion of the fluid in vapor phase, carried out in a thermal

machine called steam turbine and as isentropic as possible.

 At the outlet of the steam turbine, a release of residual heat from the steam
at constant pressure in a device called a condenser. In this device the total
condensation of the same and its passage to the liquid phase is carried out.

 One or several stages of elevation of the fluid pressure. The process is

carried out with the fluid in liquid phase, with pumps and outside the zone of
phase change. This is one of the main differences with the Carnot cycle
since, in the strict sense, to obtain maximum efficiency it would be
necessary to perform the compression of a two-phase fluid, with the
technological difficulty that this entails.

 A stage of heat input at constant pressure, which in combined cycles is

made in the heat recovery boiler by the exhaust gases of the gas turbine.
The fluid performs a stage of pre-heating in the liquid phase, a process of
phase change and a subsequent rise of the temperature of the steam in
what is called superheated, motivated by the need to decrease the humidity
in the steam in the last stages of expansion of the turbine. This last
constitutes the second particularity of the Rankine cycle and another
fundamental difference with the Carnot cycle.
The Rankine cycle is a power cycle representative of the thermodynamic process
that has:

• Process 1-2: Isentropic compression in a pump.

• Process 2-3: Addition of heat at constant pressure in the boiler.
• Process 3-4: Isentropic expansion in the turbine.
• Process 4-1: Rejection of heat at constant pressure in the condenser.

Objective

Calculate the thermal efficiency of the plant determining the mechanical power
supplied and the input thermal power.

Procedure

What data are needed to find the thermal performance of the plant?

 Find the mechanical power supplied of the turbine (Wturb) and the
mechanical power supplied of the pump (Wpump).

 Find also the heat generated by input thermal power (Qin).

How are these data to be calculated in the laboratory?

 In order to calculate the power data of the turbine and the pump, it is
necessary to turn on the turbine at 5000 rpm and take the measurements of
pressure and temperature at the inlet and outlet of each component of the
cycle, with this we will extract enthalpy data in the thermodynamic tables.

 To calculate the heat that enters we will use the density of the fuel (diesel)
and its calorific value. Then we will use the spent fuel in a certain time to
find the liters per second spent, so we will get the input thermal power (Qin).
 Finally, in order to find the thermal efficiency of the plant, we will use the
difference of the mechanical power supplied between turbine and pump
multiplied by the mass flow rate (at 5000 rpm), divided in the input thermal
power (Qin).

Image 1. Rankine basic scheme and diagram