GAS POWER CYCLES

Carnot Cycle
1. Consider a Carnot cycle executed in a closed system with 0.6 kg of air. The temperature limits of the
cycle are 300 and 1100 K, and the minimum and maximum pressures that occur during the cycle are 20
and 3000 kPa. Assuming constant specific heats, determine the net work output per cycle.
2. Consider a Carnot cycle executed in a closed system with air as the working fluid. The maximum
pressure in the cycle is 800 kPa while the maximum temperature is 750 K. If the entropy increase
during the isothermal heat rejection process is 0.25 kJ/kg-K and the net work output is 100 kj/kg,
determine (a) the minimum pressure in the cycle, (b) the heat rejection from the cycle, and (c) the
thermal efficiency of the cycle, (d) If an actual heat engine cycle operates between the same
temperature limits and produces 5200 kW of power for an air flow rate of 90 kg/s, determine the
second law efficiency of this cycle.
3. An ideal gas Carnot cycle uses air as the working fluid, receives heat from a heat reservoir at
1027C, is repeated 1500 times per minute, and has a compression ratio of 12. The compression ratio is
defined as the volume ratio during the compression process. Determine the maximum temperature of
the low-temperature heat reservoir, the cycles thermal efficiency, and the amount of heat that must be
supplied per cycle if this device is to produce 500 kW of power.
Otto Cycle
4. An ideal Otto cycle has a compression ratio of 10.5, takes in air at 90 kPa and 40C, and is repeated
2500 times per minute. Using constant specific heats at room temperature, determine the thermal
efficiency of this cycle and the rate of heat input if the cycle is to produce 90 kW of power.
5. Repeat Prob. 4 for a compression ratio of 8.5.
6. Someone has suggested that the air-standard Otto cycle is more accurate if the two isentropic
processes are replaced with polytropic processes with a polytropic exponent n = 1.3. Consider such a
cycle when the compression ratio is 8, P, = 95 kPa, T 1 = 15C, and the maximum cycle temperature is
1200C. Determine the heat transferred to and rejected from this cycle, as well as the cycles thermal
efficiency. Use constant specific heats at room temperature.
7. How do the results of Prob.6 change when isentropic processes are used in place of the polytropic
processes?
8. The compression ratio of an air-standard Otto cycle is 9.5. Prior to the isentropic compression
process, the air is at 100 kPa, 35C, and 600 cm3. The temperature at the end of the isentropic
expansion process is 800 K. Using specific heat values at room temperature, determine (a) the highest
temperature and pressure in the cycle; (b) the amount of heat transferred in, in kJ; (c) the thermal
efficiency; and (d) the mean effective pressure.

9. A four-cylinder, four-stroke, 1.6-L gasoline engine operates on the Otto cycle with a compression
ratio of 11. The air is at 100 kPa and 37C at the beginning of the compression process, and the
maximum pressure in the cycle is 8 MPa. The compression and expansion processes may be modeled
as polytropic with a polytropic constant of 1.3. Using constant specific heats at 850 K, determine (a)
the temperature at the end of the expansion process, (b) the net work output and the thermal efficiency,
(c) the mean effective pressure,
Diesel Cycle
10.9-51 An ideal Diesel cycle has a compression ratio of 20 and a cutoff ratio of 1.3. Determine the
maximum temperature of the air and the rate of heat addition to this cycle when it produces 250 kW of
power and the state of the air at the beginning of the compression is 90 kPa and 15C. Use constant
specific heats at room temperature.
11. An ideal diesel engine has a compression ratio of 20 and uses air as the working fluid. The state of
air at the beginning of the compression process is 95 kPa and 20C. If the maximum temperature in the
cycle is not to exceed 2200 K, determine (a) the thermal efficiency and (b) the mean effective
pressure. Assume constant specific heats for air at room temperature.
12. Repeat Prob. 9-57, but replace the isentropic expansion process by polytropic expansion process
with the polytropic exponent n = 1.35.
13. A four-cylinder two-stroke 2.0-L diesel engine that operates on an ideal Diesel cycle has a
compression ratio of 22 and a cutoff ratio of 1.8. Air is at 70C and 97 kPa at the beginning of the
compression process. Using the cold-air standard assumptions, determine how much power the engine
will deliver at 2300 rpm.
14. A six-cylinder, four-stroke, 3.2-L compression-ignition engine operates on the ideal diesel cycle
with a compression ratio of 19. The air is at 95 kPa and 67C at the beginning of the compression
process and the engine speed is 1750 rpm. The engine uses light diesel fuel with a heating value of
42,500 kJ/kg, an air-fuel ratio of 28, and a combustion efficiency of 98 percent. Using constant specific
heats at 850 K, determine (a) the maximum temperature in the cycle and the cutoff ratio (b) the net
work output per cycle and the thermal efficiency, (c) the mean effective pressure
Dual Cycle

15.An air-standard dual cycle has a compression ratio of 14 and a cutoff ratio of 1.2. The pressure ratio
during the constant-volume heat addition process is 1.5. Determine the thermal efficiency, amount of
heat added, the maximum gas pressure and temperature when this cycle is operated at 80 kPa and 20C
at the beginning of the compression. Use constant specific heats at room temperature.
16. Repeat Prob. 15 when the state of the air at the beginning of the compression is 80 kPa and -20C.

17. An air-standard dual cycle has a compression ratio of 18 and a cutoff ratio of 1.1. The pressure ratio
during constant volume heat addition process is 1.1. At the beginning of the compression, P1 = 90 kPa,
T1 = 18C, and V1 = 0.003 m3 How much power will this cycle produce when it is executed
4000 times per minute? Use constant specific heats at room temperature.
18 Repeat Prob. 17 if the isentropic compression efficiency is 85 percent and the isentropic expansion
efficiency is 90 percent.
19. An air-standard cycle, called the dual cycle, with constant specific heats is executed in a closed
piston-cylinder system and is composed of the following five processes:
1-2 Isentropic compression with a compression ratio, r = V1/V2
2-3 Constant volume heat addition with a pressure ratio, rp= P3/P2
3-4 Constant pressure heat addition with a volume ratio, r=V4/V3
4-5 Isentropic expansion while work is done until V5 = V1
5-1 Constant volume heat rejection to the initial state
(a) Sketch the P-V and T-s diagrams for this cycle.
(b) Obtain an expression for the cycle thermal efficiency as a function of k, r, rc, and r.
(c) Evaluate the limit of the efficiency as rp approaches unity and compare your answer with the
expression for the Diesel cycle efficiency.
(,d) Evaluate the limit of the efficiency as rc approaches unity and compare your answer with the
expression for the Otto cycle efficiency.
Stirling and Ericsson Cycles
20. Consider an ideal Ericsson cycle with air as the working fluid executed in a steady-flow system.
Air is at 27C and 120 kPa at the beginning of the isothermal compression process, during which 150
kj/kg of heat is rejected. Heat transfer to air occurs at 1200 K. Determine (a) the maximum pressure
in the cycle, (b) the net work output per unit mass of air, and (c) the thermal efficiency of the cycle.
21 An ideal Stirling cycle operates with 1 kg of air between thermal energy reservoirs at 27C and
527C. The maximum cycle pressure is 2000 kPa and the minimum cycle pressure is 100 kPa.
Determine the net work produced each time this cycle is executed, and the cycles thermal efficiency.
22.Determine the external rate of heat input and power produced by the Stirling cycle of Prob. 21
when it is repeated 1300 times per minute.
23. An Ericsson cycle operates between thermal energy reservoirs at 627C and 7C while producing
500 kW of power. Determine the rate of heat addition to this cycle when it is repeated 2000 times per
minute.
24 If the cycle of Prob.23 is repeated 3000 times per minute while the heat added per cycle remains the
same, how much power will the cycle produce?