8.

12 Steam enters the turbine of a simple vapor power plant with a pressure of 10 MPa and
temperature T, and expands adiabatically to 6 kPa. The isentropic turbine efficiency is 85%.
Saturated liquid exits the condenser at 6 kPa and the isentropic pump efficiency is 82%.
(a) For T =580 oC, determine the turbine exit quality and the cycle thermal efficiency.
(b) Plot the quantities of part (a) versus T ranging from 580 to 700 oC.
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8.16 Superheated steam at 18 MPa, 560 C, enters the turbine of a vapor power plant. The pressure at
the exit of the turbine is 0.06 bar, and liquid leaves the condenser at 0.045 bar, 26 oC. The pressure is
increased to 18.2 MPa across the pump. The turbine and pump have isentropic efficiencies of 82 and
77%, respectively. For the cycle, determine
(a) the net work per unit mass of steam flow, in kJ/kg.
(b) the heat transfer to steam passing through the boiler, in kJ per kg of steam flowing.
(c) the thermal efficiency.
(d) the heat transfer to cooling water passing through the condenser, in kJ per kg of steam condensed.

8.19 The ideal Rankine cycle of Problem 8.2 is modified to include reheat. In the modified cycle,
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steam expands though the first-stage turbine to 0.7 MPa and then is reheated to 480 C. If the net
power output of the modified cycle is 100 MW, determine for the modified cycle
(a) the rate of heat transfer to the working fluid passing through the steam generator, in MW.
(b) the thermal efficiency.
(c) the rate of heat transfer to cooling water passing through the condenser, in MW.
8.22 An ideal Rankine cycle with reheat uses water as the working fluid. The conditions at the inlet
to the first-stage turbine are 14 MPa, 600oC and the steam is reheated between the turbine stages to
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600 C. For a condenser pressure of 6 kPa, plot the cycle thermal efficiency versus reheat pressure for
pressures ranging from 2 to 12 MPa.
23 A solar powered device uses water as the working substance. Water is heated in the solar thermal
collector up to saturated steam at 175 at the exit. It leaves an isentropic turbine and enters a
condenser at 7.5 kPa. The environment temperature is 20.
(a) sketch the cycle on T-s and p-v coordinates.
(b) determine the thermal efficiency.
(c) If the entropy production of the steam in the turbine is 0.1814 kJ/kgK, find the isentropic
efficiency of the turbine.
175 and 7.5 kPa saturated water vapor table is needed.

2
v

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The isentropic efficiency of the turbine
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Concept problems:
1. Consider a simple ideal Rankine cycle with fixed turbine inlet conditions. What is the effect of
lowering the condenser pressure on
Pump work input: (a) increases, (b) decreases, (c) remains the same
Turbine work output: (a) increases, (b) decreases, (c) remains the same
Heat supplied: (a) increases, (b) decreases, (c) remains the same
Heat rejected: (a) increases, (b) decreases, (c) remains the same
Cycle efficiency: (a) increases, (b) decreases, (c) remains the same
Quality at turbine exit: (a) increases, (b) decreases, (c) remains the same
Answer: Heat rejected, quality decreases; everything else increases.
2. The entropy of steam increases in actual steam turbines as a result of irreversibilities. In an effort
to control entropy increase, it is proposed to cool the steam in the turbine by running cooling
water around the turbine casing. It is argued that this will reduce the entropy and the enthalpy of
the steam at the turbine exit and thus increase the work output. How would you evaluate this
proposal?
Answer: We would reject this proposal because wturb = h1 - h2 - qout, and any heat loss from the
steam will adversely affect the turbine work output.

3. Is it possible to maintain a pressure of 10 kPa in a condenser that is being cooled by river water
entering at 20C?
Answer: Yes, because the saturation temperature of steam at 10 kPa is 45.81C, which is much
higher than the temperature of the cooling water.
4. How can the second-law efficiency of a simple ideal Rankine cycle be improved?
Answer: In the simple ideal Rankine cycle, irreversibilities occur during heat addition and heat
rejection processes in the boiler and the condenser, respectively, and both are due to temperature
difference. Therefore, the irreversibilities can be decreased and thus the 2nd law efficiency can be
increased by minimizing the temperature differences during heat transfer in the boiler and the
condenser.