Mekelle University

Ethiopian Institute of Technology _ Mekelle

School of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Course title: Engineering Thermodynamics (MEng2121) Academic year: 2018/19
Assignment 1: submission date: Feb, 2 /2019 Saturday
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Part I: Assignment
1. As illustrated in Fig. P1.3, water circulates between a storage tank and a solar collector.
Heated water from the tank is used for domestic purposes. Considering the solar collector
as a system, identify locations on the system boundary where the system interacts with its
surroundings and describe events that occur within the system. Repeat for an enlarged
system that includes the storage tank and the interconnecting piping.

2. Why is it incorrect to say that a system contains heat?

3. List examples of heat transfer by conduction, radiation, and convection you might
find in a kitchen.

Part II: Assignment

1. A 0.2-m-thick plane wall is constructed of concrete. At steady state, the energy

transfer rate by conduction through a 1-m2 area of the wall is 0.15 kW. If the
temperature distribution is linear through the wall, what is the temperature
difference across the wall, in K?
2. A flat surface having an area of 2 m2 and a temperature of 350 K is cooled
convectively by a gas at 300 K. Using data from Table 2.1; determine the largest and
smallest heat transfer rates, in kW, that might be encountered for (a) free
convection, (b) forced convection.

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 3. A flat surface is covered with insulation with a thermal conductivity of .08W/K.m. The
temperature at the interface between the surface and the insulation is 3000C. The outside
of the insulation is exposed to air at 300C, and the heat transfer coefficient for
convection between the insulation and the air is 10W/m2.K.Ignoring radiation, determine the
minimum thickness of insulation, in m, such that the outside of the insulation is no hotter
than 600C at steady state.

Part III: Exercise only

Numerical problems
1. A piston–cylinder device with a set of stops initially contains 0.3 kg of steam at 1.0 MPa and 400°C. The location of the stop
corresponds to 60 percent of the initial volume. Now the steam is cooled. Determine the compression work if the final state is (a) 1.0
MPa and 250°C and (b) 500 kPa.(c) Also determine the temperature at the final state in part (b).

2. Two tanks (Tank A and Tank B) are separated by a partition. Initially Tank A contains 2-kg steam at 1 MPa and300°C while Tank
B contains 3-kg saturated liquid–vapor mixture with a vapor mass fraction of 50 percent. Now the partition is removed and the two
sides are allowed to mix until the mechanical and thermal equilibrium are established. If the pressure at the final state is 300 kPa,
determine (a) the temperature and quality of the steam (if mixture) at the final state and (b) the amount of heat lost from the tanks.

3. Steam flows steadily through an adiabatic turbine. The inlet conditions of the steam are 10 MPa, 450°C, and 80 m/s,and the exit
conditions are 10 kPa, 92 percent quality, and 50m/s. The mass flow rate of the steam is 12 kg/s. Determine
(a) the change in kinetic energy, ( b) the power output, and
(c) the turbine inlet area.

4. In steam power plants, open feed-water heaters are frequently utilized to heat the feed-water by mixing it with steam bled off the
turbine at some intermediate stage. Consider an open feed-water heater that operates at a pressure of 1000kPa. Feed-water at 50°C and
1000 kPa is to be heated with superheated steam at 200°C and 1000 kPa. In an ideal feed-water heater, the mixture leaves the heater as
saturated liquid at the feed-water pressure. Determine the ratio of the mass
flow rates of the feed-water and the superheated vapor for this case.
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5. Steam enters the condenser of a steam power plant at20 kPa and a quality of 95 percent with a mass flow rate of20,000 kg/h. It is to
be cooled by water from a nearby river by circulating the water through the tubes within the con-denser. To prevent thermal pollution,
the river water is not allowed to experience a temperature rise above 10°C. If the steam is to leave the condenser as saturated
liquid at 20 kPa, determine the mass flow rate of the cooling water required.

6. In a dairy plant, milk at 4°C is pasteurized continuously at 72°C at a rate of 12 L/s for 24 h a day and 365 days a year. The milk is
heated to the pasteurizing temperature by hot water heated in a natural-gas-fired boiler that has an efficiency of 82 percent. The
pasteurized milk is then cooled by cold water at 18°C before it is finally refrigerated back to 4°C. To save energy and money, the plant
installs a regenerator that has an effectiveness of 82 percent. If the cost of natural gas is $1.10/therm (1 therm=105,500 kJ), determine
how much energy and money the regenerator will save this company per year.

Assignment to be submitted: Part I all

Part II:all

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