No abstract

Limitations of traditional first-law analysis, based upon thermodynamic performance of process unit coupled with mass and energy balances, are not a serious limitation when dealing with familiar systems. However, when dealing with more uncongenial, complex ones, it provides incomplete insight for such evaluation. These limitations came from the fact that first-law analysis does not indicate the sources or magnitudes of entropy production, which is, by the second law, essential criterion for scaling losses. An evaluation of plant performance will usually require a comparison of the thermodynamic performance of process units with available data from existing plants. Therefore, exergy analysis is more than useful, providing information about magnitudes of losses and their distribution throughout the system as well. Such analysis is very thankful at the level of process units but applied on higher system levels e.g. the comparison of overall plant performance (total system) or the performance of subsystems, represents the valuable method for indicating where research resources can be directed to best advantage.

Energy and exergy analysis of a Brayton cycle with an ideal gas is given. The irreversibility of the adiabatic processes in turbine and compressor is taken into account through their isentropic efficiencies. The net work per cycle, the thermal efficiency and the two exergy efficiencies are expressed as functions of the four dimensionless variables: the isentropic efficiencies of turbine and compressor, the pressure ratio, and the temperature ratio. It is shown that the maximal values of the net work per cycle, the thermal and the exergy efficiency are achieved when the isentropic efficiencies and temperature ratio are as high as possible, while the different values of pressure ratio that maximize the net work per cycle, the thermal and the exergy efficiencies exist. These pressure ratios increase with the increase of the temperature ratio and the isentropic efficiency of compressor and turbine. The increase of the turbine isentropic efficiency has a greater impact on the increase of the net work per cycle and the thermal efficiency of a Brayton cycle than the same increase of compressor isentropic efficiency. Finally, two goal functions are proposed for thermodynamic optimization of a Brayton cycle for given values of the temperature ratio and the compressor and turbine isentropic efficiencies. The first maximizes the sum of the net work per cycle and thermal efficiency while the second the net work per cycle and exergy efficiency. In both cases the optimal pressure ratio is closer to the pressure ratio that maximizes the net work per cycle.

No abstract

A growing number of households have had condensing boilers built in to be used for the heating of spaces and for the hot water supply. The use of condensing boilers is justified from the point of view of energy because they achieve higher thermal efficiency than traditional boilers. Condensation of water vapour occurs in the flue gases, whereby the heat released by condensation is used to heat the water in the boiler. How much water vapour will condense depends on the temperature to which the flue gases are cooled. In this paper, a thermodynamic analysis of thirteen built-in gas condensing boilers was performed; data on the flue gas composition and temperature, as well as on the excess air required for combustion were obtained for that purpose. The calculation results consisting of the amount of condensed water, the thermal efficiency of the boiler, and the volume flow rates of the air and fuel are presented in tables. The analysis identified the cases in which the water vapour condensation occurred and determined the amount of the condensed water. The cases without water vapour condensation were also identified.