Project 2 - Rankine cycle Simulator

Rankine Cycle Simulator

The Rankine cycle is an idealized thermodynamic cycle in which certain steam turbines or reciprocating steam engines, allow mechanical work to be extracted from a fluid as it moves between a heat source and heat sink. The Rankine cycle is named after William John Macquorn Rankine, a Scottish professor at Glasgow University. 

The rankine cycle operates in the following processes -

a. Isobaric or Constant pressure heat transfer -  High pressure liquid enters the boiler from the feed pump and is heated to the saturation temperature, Further addition of energy causes evaporation of the liquid until it is fully converted to saturated steam.

b. Isentropic or Adiabatic expansion - The steam is expanded in the turbine, thus producing work which may be converted to electricity. In practice, the expansion is limited by the temperature of the cooling medium and by the erosion of the turbine blades by liquid entrainment in the vapor stream as the process moves further into the two-phase region. Exit vapor qualities should be greater than 90%.

c. Isobaric or Constant pressure heat rejection - The steam-liquid mixture leaving the turbine is condensed at low pressure, usually in a surface condenser using cooling water. In well designed and maintained condensers, the pressure of the vapor is well below atmospheric pressure, approaching the saturation pressure of the operating fluid at the cooling water temperature.

d. Isentropic or Adiabatic compression - The pressure of the condensate is raised in the feed pump. Because of the low specific volume of liquids, the pump work is relatively small and often neglected in thermodynamic calculations.