Rankine Large electric power plants typically utilize a vapor power cycle. Regardless of the heat source, be it nuclear or combustion of coal, oil, natural gas, wood chips, etc., the remaining details of these plants are similar. Typically a pure working fluid, usually water, is circulated through a cycle, and that fluid trades heat and work with its surroundings. We sketch a typical power plant cycle for electricity generation in Fig.... The ideal Rankine cycle was first described in 1859 by William John Macquorn Rankine, long after the steam engine wasin wide usage. The cycle has the following steps: • 1 → 2: isentropic compression in a pump, • 2 → 3: isobaric heating in a boiler, • 3 → 4: isentropic expansion in a turbine, and • 4 → 1: isobaric cooling in a condenser. Two variants of the T − s diagram are given in Fig.. The first is more efficient as it has the appearance of a Carnot cycle. However, it is impractical, as it induces liquid water in the turbine, which can damage its
Introduction of Mechanical Engineering Subjects