ENGN4525 Lab 2 Rankine Cycle U4526113

Abstract
The aim of this Lab is to demonstrate and analyse the Rankine Cycle system.

Introduction
The Rankine Cycle is the vapour power cycle used in most large industrial power
plants. The Rankine Cycle in this lab operates by burning gas to boil water in a
boiler unit. The process in this unit converts liquid water into high pressure, high
temperature steam. The steam is released from the boiler unit by the use of a
controllable steam valve, through a turbine which is connected to a generator
which produces electricity. The steam then flows through an exhaust tube into a
condenser.
Pressure and temperature measurements are taken throughout the cycle which
allows the calculation of thermodynamic quantities that are explored further in
this lab report.

Apparatus
The Rankine Cycle used in this lab consists of:
- Boiler to convert the liquid water to high pressure, high temperature
steam via the burning of gas in the burner.
- Combustion Burner/ Blower burns the gas to generate heat in the boiler.
- Turbine to convert the movement of the steam through the pipe system
into an axial direction that is used by the generator.
- Electric Generator converts the motion of the turbine into electrical
energy.
- Condenser Tower operates at atmospheric pressure and condenses some
of the steam into liquid water, the remaining steam is vented to the
atmosphere.
- Data Acquisition system used to collect the data from the 9 sensors, data
is displayed in real time on a computer screen.
- Sensors there are 9 sensors installed in the system, sensors are installed
to measure
o Boiler pressure and temperature
o Turbine inlet pressure and temperature
o Turbine outlet pressure and temperature
o Fuel flow
o Generator voltage and amperage output

Method
After conducting the pre-start checks the method for the lab is detailed below.
1. Fill the Boiler with water, no more than 6 Litres.
2. Turn the Gas Valve on, on the Gas Cylinder and on the Rankine Cycler Unit.
Check for gas leaks.
3. Turn the keyed Master Switch on.
4. Turn the Burner Switch on, wait 45 seconds to hear the flame.
5. Ensure that the Load Switch is off and the rheostat knob is fully counter
clockwise.
6. Watch the pressure dial, when it reaches 110psig open the Steam
Admission Valve slowly and allow the pressure to drop to 40psig, close the
Steam Admission Valve and allow the pressure to increase again. Do this
twice. This allows for the system to be pre-charged so that there is

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ENGN4525 Lab 2 Rankine Cycle U4526113

minimal heat loss in the system, it also allows for the system to be
checked for leaks and correct operation.
7. Open the Steam Admission Valve so that the pressure stays constant at
110psig, turn on the Load and adjust the rheostat so that the generator
output is at approximately 6 volts and 200mA while maintaining a steam
pressure of 110psig.
8. Allow data to be recorded for this steady state, do not let the water in the
sight glass of the boiler fall lower than 3cm from the bottom of the sight
glass.
9. Turn off the Burner and allow the Cycler to cool, open the Steam Admission
Valve to equalise the pressure of the system with atmospheric pressure.

Results
Q1) Average results taken from steady state operation of the Rankine Cycler
Unit.

Boiler Boiler Turbin Turbin Turbin Turbin DC DC Fuel Turbin

Pressu Temp e In e In e Out e Out A (A) V (V) Flow e
re (C) Pressu Temp Pressu Temp (L/mi (RPM)
(psig) re (C) re (C) n)
(psig) (psig)
110.2 206.2 9.21 135.5 1.89 97.62 0.07 5.51 5.43 1445.
1 8 2 76

Enthalpy kJ/kg Entropy kJ/kg.K

Sat. Evap. Sat. Sat. Sat.
liquid vapour liquid vapour
Boiler exit Tb = 880.90 1915.5 2796.5 2.3898 6.3859
206.28 468 8 284 692 536
Turbine In Tin = 569.94 2157.9 2727.8 1.6921 6.9733
135.52 664 16 968 944 56
Turbine out Tout = 409.00 2263.2 2672.2 1.2798 7.3839
97.62 592 832 92 156 36
*Values that are underlined were used in the following calculations.
Q2)

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ENGN4525 Lab 2 Rankine Cycle U4526113

Figure 1: Rankine Cycle T-s Diagram

Q3) Degree of superheat (or steam quality if not superheated).

Temperature Pressure Degree Steam

(C) (psig) superheat Quality
Boiler 206.28 110.21 32.7560 -
Turbine in 135.52 9.21 21.2887 -
Turbine out 97.62 1.89 - 1.347x10-5

Q5) Conduct an energy balance for the cycle and draw a Sankey diagram.
Using the enthalpy values from above;
, propane =Calculated belowDiscussion=1020.5 kJ
Q

=h2h 1=2387.52 kJ / kg
Q

out =h4h1=2263.29 kJ /kg

Q

W Turbine =h4 h3=55.6048 kJ /kg

, loss=h3 h2=68.6316 kJ /kg

Q

Where,
h1 = Sat. Liquid enthalpy of Turbine out = 409.00592 kJ/kg
h2 = Sat. Vapour enthalpy of Boiler = 2796.5284 kJ/kg
h3 = Sat. Vapour enthalpy of Turbine in = 2727.8968 kJ/kg
h4 = Sat. Vapour enthalpy of Turbine out = 2672.292 kJ/kg

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ENGN4525 Lab 2 Rankine Cycle U4526113

The mass flow rate is 0.003 kg/s. We multiply the mass flow rate value and 119
seconds (time of steady state section used for these calculations).

=2387.52 kJ 0.357=852.345 kJ
Q
kg

out =2263.29 kJ 0.357=807.995 kJ

Q
kg

kJ
W Turbine =55.6048 0.357=19.851kJ
kg

, loss=68.6316 kJ 0.357=24.501kJ
Q
kg

Figure 2 Rankine Cycle Energy Balance Sankey Diagram

*Boiler losses would include losses in the combustion of fuel and heat losses
through the boiler unit, also it was noted that there was a vibration in the turbine
which could have caused losses in the turbine/generator component of the
system, there also appeared to be a leak in the system at this point as after time
(during the steady state operation of the cycle) a small puddle formed
underneath the turbine, these would contribute to the Q in, loss.

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ENGN4525 Lab 2 Rankine Cycle U4526113

Discussion
Q1) To convert the volumetric flow rate of the gas into boiler heat input the
method I used is as follows:

Propane= ( Fuel Flow ) HHV Propane Propane T 1

Q
60

Where:
Fuel Flow = 5.43 L/min
HHVPropane = Higher Heating Value of Propane = 50.35 MJ/kg
Propane = 0.001882 kg/L
T = 119 seconds
Therefore,

Propane= (5.43 ) 50.35 0.001882 119 1 MJ

Q Propane =1020.5 kJ
Q
60

Q2) Boiler efficiency could be calculated if the temperature of the water added
into the boiler were measured, that way the amount of heat that is added to the
water in the boiler could be accurately determined and compared with the heat
input from the burning of the gas in the boiler to determine the boiler efficiency.
Q3) I believe that running the boiler pressure down to 40psig twice before
beginning the steady state runs is to pre-charge the system to minimise any heat
losses within the system. It also allows for the system to be checked for leaks
and correct operation. I think that it also allows for the boiler to be heated to a
higher temperature, as the initial pressure is released the boiler is now able to
reach a higher temperature for the same pressure.
Q4) An adiabatic process is defined as a process in which no heat is gained or
lost by the system. This satisfies the first law of thermodynamics, the
conservation of energy. The steam temperature at the Boiler exit is 206.28C and
the steam temperature at the inlet of the Turbine is 135.52, this demonstrates
that there is a temperature loss between the Boiler exit and the Turbine inlet.
The second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy of an isolated
system always increases over time, or remains constant in ideal cases where the
system is in a steady state. The entropy at the Boiler exit is 6.3859536 kJ/kg.K
and the entropy at the inlet of the Turbine is 6.973356 kJ/kg.K. As the system is
in a steady state the entropy should remain constant. Thus the Steam Admission
Valve cannot be considered an adiabatic process due to the temperature loss and
the non-constant value of entropy.

Conclusion
The Lab demonstrated and allowed for analysis of a Rankine Cycle. Through the
results obtained from the Lab it can be seen that the Rankine Cycler is not very
efficient, this may be to the system being an open cycle as there was not return
feed water pump from the Condenser to the Boiler. There were also losses
observed in the energy balance completed in the evaluation of the Lab in the
results section of this report.

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ENGN4525 Lab 2 Rankine Cycle U4526113

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Appendices
Chosen section of Steady State results.