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UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
B.ENG.(HONS.) IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
YEAR I SEMESTER II
MAY/JUNE 10 SESSION OF EXAMINATIONS

MEC 1405 Thermodynamics I 4
th
June. 2010

0915 1215 hours

This paper contains SIX questions. You are to attempt FIVE.

Stationery: Use of calculators is allowed
Psychrometric Chart to be available
Steam Tables

1. (a) Sketch a diagram showing the control volume of a flow process and write the
flow energy equation. State which one of the terms is the enthalpy. State
whether (or not) enthalpy is a property and why.
(5 marks)

(b) A turbine operating under steady flow conditions receives steam at the following
state: pressure 13.8bar; specific volume 0.143m
3
/kg; specific internal energy
2590 kJ/kg; velocity 30m/s. The state of steam leaving the turbine is as follows:
pressure 0.35bar; specific volume 4.37m
3
/kg; specific internal energy
2360kJ/kg; velocity 100m/s. Heat is rejected to the surroundings at the rate of
0.25kW and the rate of steam flow through the turbine is 0.38kg/s.

(i) Calculate the specific enthalpy at the inlet and outlet of the steam turbine
(ii) Calculate the power developed by the turbine.
(iii) If you were able to choose an outlet velocity to maximise the power output,
while keeping the same inlet and outlet states of the steam, what would
this velocity be?
(iv) What is the new power developed for this chosen velocity?

(15 marks)

2. (a) A mixture of air and wet steam is contained in a vessel of 0.3m
3
capacity.
The wet steam has a dryness fraction of 0.75. If the pressure is 7 bar and the
temperature is 116.9
o
C, calculate the mass of water present, the mass of dry
saturated vapour, the partial pressure of the air and mass of air.

(b) If the vessel is then cooled to 100
o
C, calculate the mass of vapour condensed
and the final pressure in the vessel.

(20 marks)



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3. Draw a sketch of a separating and throttling calorimeter and describe briefly (a few
lines) how it operates.

The dryness fraction of wet steam in a main is determined by passing a sample first
through a separating calorimeter and then through a throttling calorimeter.
The pressure in the main is 15 bar; after throttling, the steam pressure and temperature
are 1.01325 bar and 125
o
C. For every kg of water collected from the condenser, a
quantity of 0.05 kg of water is collected by the separator.

Making suitable assumptions, calculate the dryness fraction of the steam in the main.
What is the minimum dryness fraction of steam at the main pressure of 15bar that
could be measured when using the throttling calorimeter alone (i.e. without the
separating part) with an outlet pressure of 1.01325bar? Explain your reasoning behind
this calculation.

(20 marks)


4. (a) Show that for a non-flow reversible isothermal process on an ideal gas the
change in entropy is:
2
1
1
2
1 2
ln ln
p
p
R
v
v
R s s

And the heat supplied is:
2
1
1
2
ln ln
p
p
RT
v
v
RT Q

(9 marks)


(b) In a non-flow process, 1 kg of a fluid at 2.7bar, 130
o
C, is compressed according
to a law pv= constant to a pressure of 20 bar. Calculate the work input and the
heat supplied, and the change in entropy when the fluid is:

(i) air

(ii) steam initially dry saturated
(11 marks)










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5. (a) Show that for a reversible adiabatic process, the process is described by:

C pv


(9 marks)

(b) What is the highest cycle efficiency possible for a heat engine operating between
800
o
C and 15
o
C. Plot the cycle on a Ts diagram and indicate the heat supplied
and heat rejected on the Ts diagram.
(5 marks)

(c) (i) By referring to the psychrometric chart provided, what is the enthalpy,
specific volume and wet bulb temperature of air with a dry bulb temperature
of 37.5
o
C and 50 percent saturation. Mark this point clearly on the chart. If
a room is 3m wide by 4m long by 3m high, what is the mass of humid air in
the room?

(ii) If the room air is conditioned to 25
o
C dry bulb and 15
o
C wet bulb, what is
the associated enthalpy drop.
(6 marks)

6. A mixture of 2 kg of hydrogen and 4 kg of nitrogen is compressed in a cylinder so that
the temperature rises from 22
o
C to 150
o
C. The mean values of c
p
over this
temperature range for the constituents are 14.45 (H
2
) and 1.041 (N
2
) kJ/kgK.
Assuming that the process is reversible and that the polytropic index of compression is
1.2, find the change in entropy of each constituent and of the mixture. Find also the
work and heat transferred during the process. The molar mass of hydrogen H
2
is
2kg/kmol while that of nitrogen N
2
is 28 kg/kmol.
(20 marks)


Additional information
2
1
1
2
1 2
ln ln
p
p
R
T
T
c s s
p


i
v
i
v
c
m
m
c
i
p
i
p
c
m
m
c and
i
i
R
m
m
R

1
) (
1
1 2 1 1 2 2
n
T T R
n
v p v p
W where W is specific work, p is pressure and v specific
volume, n is the polytropic index, R is the specific gas constant and T is the temperature.
Subscripts 1 and 2 refer to the states.