CH.

3
Reheating Cycle
Prepared by Dr. Assim Al-daraje
Reheating cycle: The purpose of a reheating cycle is to
remove the moisture carried by the steam at the final
stages of the expansion process. In this variation, two
turbines work in series. The first turbine (HPT)
accepts vapor from the boiler at high pressure. After
the vapor has passed through the first turbine, it re-
enters the boiler and is reheated before passing
through a second, lower-pressure turbine (LPT). The
reheat temperatures are very close or equal to the inlet
temperatures, whereas the optimal reheat pressure
needed is only ≈¼ of the original boiler pressure.
Among other advantages, this prevents the vapor from
condensing during its expansion and thereby reducing
the damage in the turbine blades.
and improves the efficiency of the cycle, because more
of the heat flow into the cycle occurs at higher
temperature. The reheat cycle was first introduced in
the 1920s, but was not operational for long due to
technical difficulties. In the 1940s, it was reintroduced
with the increasing manufacture of high-pressure
boilers, and eventually double reheating was
introduced in the 1950s. The idea behind double
reheating is to increase the average temperature. It was
observed that more than two stages of reheating are
generally unnecessary, since the next stage increases
the cycle efficiency only ½ as much as the preceding
stage. Today, double reheating is commonly used in
power plants that operate under supercritical pressure.
The advantages of using a reheat
cycle are:
1. Higher thermal efficiency.
2. Reduced feed water pump power.
3. Smaller condenser.
4. Long life of the turbine.
5. Less handling of the fuel and firing
requirement.
 Efficiency
Efficiency

qin  (h1  h4 )  (hn  hm )

qexhaust  h2  h3
w  qin  qexhaust
w

qin
(h1  h4 )  (hn  hm )  (h2  h3 )

(hm  h1 )  (h1  hn )
T-s diagram
6
The properties: p1, t1 , (pm , tn ≈ t1 usually), p2 are
available for a reheat power plant, then:

h1: From p1, t1 , get h1 , s1

hm: From p2 , s2 =s1,

get hm

From pm , tn , 𝑠𝑛 = 𝑠2
get hn

7
 Qin Example 1 - Superheat
2
boiler
3
W Rankine Cycle
out
Turbine
Win pump Consider the Rankine power cycle but
this time we are going to superheat
condenser
the steam in the boiler before
1 4
allowing it to enter the turbine at 6
MPa. The steam exits from the
Qout
3 turbine will be 100% saturated vapor
T as shown. After condensing,
6MPa saturated liquid enters the pump at a
pressure of 0.1 MPa. Determine (a)
2
the rate of heat transfer into the boiler
100kPa per unit mass, (b) the net power
1 4 generation per unit mass. (c) the
s thermal efficiency,
8
Solution:

9
 𝑠3 − 𝑠600
Solution(cont.) (
(𝑠700 −𝑠600 )/100
) + 600 = °𝐶

7.427-7.1693=0.2577 kJ/kg°K/100= .002577,

(7.36-7.1693)/.002577= 74°C+600°C=674°C

((ℎ700 −ℎ600 )/100) ∗ 74 + ℎ600 =

10
 Example 2 - Reheat Cycle
3 high-P Low-P T high-P 3 5
turbine turbine turbine low-P
turbine
boiler
4
4
5 6
2

2 pump 1
1 6
condenser
s
We are going to add a low pressure turbine (5-6) to the Rankine power
cycle analyzed (ex. 1). Before going into the L-P turbine, the exit steam
from the first turbine (3-4) is reheated in the boiler at a constant pressure.
Assume both 4 & 6 are at 100% saturated vapor state and the vapor
exiting from the H-P turbine (state 4) expands to a lower pressure of
(P4=2 MPa) before it is being reheated at a constant pressure to the state
5. Recalculate (a) the thermal efficiency of the system. 11
Solution:

12
Solution (cont.)

13
Case 1: heat in=3409.3 kJ/kg, network=1151.2kJ/kg
Case 2: heat in= 3238.1kJ/kg, network=980.05kJ/kg
Therefore thermal efficiency decreases when we reheat the
same
Note: The process of superheating is the
only way to increase the peak temperature of
the Rankine cycle (and to increase efficiency)
without increasing the boiler pressure.
... Reheat allows to deliver more of
the heat at a temperature close to the peak of
the cycle (and to decrease efficiency)