Basics of Mechanical

Engineering
for
Renewable Energy Systems

Rohit Singh Lather, Ph.D.

Introduction

Mechanical power is produced by a heat engine that

transforms thermal energy (from combustion of a fuel)
into rotational energy
Heat (generated in the furnace) is transmitted to the
boiler where water forced into the boiler by the feed
Steam
turbine
blades
Shaft (Power)
pump
is drives
converted
into steam

So the power produced must be

1. Economically useful.
2. Environmental friendly to society

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How to Produce Steam

Water boils and evaporates
at 100C under
atmospheric pressure
Water absorbs the heat, and
eventually absorb enough
to change into a gaseous
state - steam.
During the evaporation
process, pressure and
temperature are constant,
and a substantial amount
of thermal energy is used for
bringing the water from
liquid to vapour phase.
Heat Fuel and Air
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Burner
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 By higher pressure, water evaporates at higher

temperature - e.g. a pressure of 10 bar equals an
evaporation temperature of 184C.
When all the water is evaporated, the steam is called
dry saturated.
In this condition the steam contains a large amount of
latent heat.
Further heating of dry saturated steam will lead to
increase in temperature of the steam.
Superheated steam.

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Steam Generation for Power

Can be produced using steam boilers and the steam
generators

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Steam Generation

Sensible
Heat

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Sensible
Heat

Dr. Rohit Singh Lather

General Classification of Power Plants

Status [Conventional / Non- Conventional]

Fuel Type [ Fossil Fuel / Nuclear / Renewable
Energy ]
Capacity [ Small / Medium/ High / Super ]
Operation [Base / Peak / Intermediate ]
Prime Mover [ Steam / Gas / Water / Wind
Turbine ]
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Principles of Power Plant Design

Consideration
Properly selected location
Simplicity of design
Low capital cost
Low cost of energy generated
High efficiency
Low maintenance cost
Low operating cost
Reliability of supplying power
Reserve capacity to meet future power demand

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Power Plant Land Use Required (km2 /

MW)
Coal
0.01/0.04

Source: J. Davidson (2000)

1000 MW POWER
PLANTS
RUNNING AT 100
% CAPACITY
(8766 GWh/year)

PV
0.12

Geothermal
0.003
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Nuclear
0.001/0.01

Biomass
5.2

Wind
0.79
Solar
Thermal
0.08
Dr. Rohit Singh Lather

Hydro
0.07-0.37

(kg CO / kWh)
Carbon Dioxide Emissions
2

Construction/Operation/Fuel Preparation

* Source: J. Davidson
(2000)

0.2

0.004

0.0220.0250.025

0.47

0.06

Solar-PV

0.4

Wind

0.6

Nuclear

0.8

Geothermal

0.58

0.38

1.04

0.79

Coal

Natural Gas

1.2

Hydro

CO2 Emissions (kg CO 2 /kWh)

1.4

0.1

0
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Capacity Factor (CF)

Capacity factor is defined as the ratio of the actual
o/p of a power plant over a period of time to its
o/p if it had operated at full rated capacity during
the same period of time.
CF applied to power generation system.
Capacity Factor =
ti______
produced at the

_____

output that could be

rated plant operation

during ti

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actual output during

ACF =

annual kWhr produced

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Dr. Rohit Singh Lather

Cost of Electricity Generation

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Capacity

Small

Medium

High

Super

Producing
Less than
5 MW

Production
Capacity
in the
range of 5
100 MW

Production
Capacity
in the
range of
100
1000 MW

Producti
on
Capacity
in above
1000
MW

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Operation Load

Base
Loaded as
heavily as
possible, where
Its load never
falls below
demand

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Peak
Used in a small
fraction of time

Dr. Rohit Singh Lather

Intermedia
te
These small
and old existing
plant

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Type of Power Plant

Electric Production
Steam or Hot Water Heating
Cogeneration Plant Steam and Electric
Combined Cycle Steam and Gas Turbines
CPCC Both Cogeneration & Combined Cycle

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Classification of Power Plants Cycles

Vapor Power
Cycles

Gas Power
Cycles

Carnot

Otto

Rankin
e

Diesel

Binary (Gas +
Steam)

Dual
Brayto
n

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Working Cycles Related to Power Plants

Steam
Power Plant
Rankine
Cycle

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Gas Power
Plant
Baryton
Cycle

Dr. Rohit Singh Lather

Diesel
Power Plant
Dual Cycle

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Steam Power Plant

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Steam turbine
Steam produced by the steam generator is admitted to
the Steam turbine
Heat energy is converted into mechanical energy
useful work
Steam Turbine can be of different types / stages
High pressure turbine
Intermediate pressure turbine
Low pressure turbine

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http://www.greenesolpower.com/
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Installed Steam Turbine

http://www.greenesolpower.com/
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Impulse turbines:
tend to be smaller than
reaction turbine of
comparable power and
are more durable and
have longer time between
overhaul than reaction
turbines.

Reaction turbines have a

slightly higher operating
efficiency but are usually
used in low pressure steam
environments.

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Steam Generator

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Energy Conversion

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Steam Generation using Renewable Energy

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Binary Cycle for Renewable Energy

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Gas Turbine

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Gas Turbine Components

Combust
or

Compressor Section

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Turbine

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Combined Cycle Power Plant

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Natural Gas
Mixture of hydrocarbons, predominantly methane (CH 4)
It also contains hydrocarbons such as ethane and propane
and other gases such as nitrogen, helium, carbon dioxide,
hydrogen sulfide, and water vapor.
Nontoxic, noncorrosive, and non-carcinogenic
Not a threat to soil, surface water, or groundwater
Compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas
(LNG)
Lower ozone-forming emissions.
Extracted from gas and oil wells.
As a transportation fuel, it is used as compressed natural
gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) .
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 To store more energy in a smaller volume, natural gas can

be liquefied (LNG).
LNG occupies only 1/600 the volume of natural gas (vapor)
form.
Can be used in boilers and gas turbines
Delivered through the pipeline system
There is widespread natural gas distribution and refueling
infrastructure.
Very small amounts of natural gas are derived from
supplemental sources such as synthetic gas, landfill gas,
and other biogas resources.
The interest in natural gas as an alternative transportation
fuel stems mainly from its clean-burning qualities, its
domestic resource base, and its commercial availability.
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Heat Transfer
With direct solar, geothermal and biomass sources,
most energy transfer is by heat rather than by
mechanical or electrical processes.
Heat transfer is a well-established, yet complex,
subject.
However, we do not need sophisticated detail, which
is rarely required to understand and plan renewable
energy thermal applications.
Sophisticated detail is needed for specialized
renewable design, as for instance with advanced
engines powered by biofuels or reduce heat losses in
a thermal system.

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Basics of Heat Transfer

Heat: The form of energy that can be transferred from
one system to another as a result of temperature
difference.
Heat Transfer deals with the determination of the
rates of such energy transfers as well as variation of
temperature.
The transfer of energy as heat is always from the
higher-temperature medium to the lower-temperature
one.
Heat transfer stops when the two mediums reach the
same temperature.
All modesinofthree
heat transfer
the
Heat can be transferred
differentrequire
modes:
existence
of
a
temperature
Conduction
difference.
Convection
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Radiation

Why Does My Coffee Get Cold

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Why Understanding of Heat Transfer

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CONDUCTION
Conduction: The transfer of energy
from the more energetic particles of a
substance to the adjacent less
energetic ones as a result of
interactions between the particles.
In gases and liquids, conduction is
due to the collisions and diffusion of
the molecules during their random
motion.
In solids, it is due to the combination
of vibrations of the molecules in a
lattice and the energy transport by
free electrons.

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The rate of heat conduction

through a plane layer is
proportional to the temperature
difference across the layer and
the heat transfer area, but is
inversely proportional to the
thickness of the layer.

Heat conduction
through a large
plane wall of
thickness x and
area A.
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Fouriers law of heat

When x
conduction
0
Thermal
conductivity,
k:
A
measure of the ability of a material
to conduct heat.
Temperature gradient dT/dx: The
slope of the temperature curve on a
T-x diagram.

In heat conduction analysis, A

represents the area normal to the
direction of heat transfer.

The rate of heat

conduction through a
solid is directly
proportional to its
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thermal conductivity.

The Range of Thermal Conductivity of Various Materials at

Room Temperature

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CONVECTION
Convection: The mode of
energy transfer between a
solid
surface
and
the
adjacent liquid or gas that
is in motion, and it involves
the
combined
effects
of
conduction and fluid motion.
The faster the fluid motion,
the greater the convection
heat transfer.
In the absence of any bulk
fluid motion, heat transfer
between a solid surface and
the adjacent fluid is by pure
conduction.

Heat transfer from a hot

surface to air by convection.

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The cooling of a boiled egg by forced and natural

convection.

Natural
(or
free)
convection: If the fluid
motion is caused by
buoyancy forces that are
induced
by
density
differences due to the
variation of temperature

Forced convection: If the

fluid is forced to flow
over the surface by
external means such as a
fan, pump, or the wind.
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Heat transfer processes that involve change of phase of

a fluid are also considered to be convection because of
the fluid motion induced during the process, such as the
rise of the vapor bubbles during boiling or the fall of the
liquid droplets during condensation.
Newtons law of cooling
h convection heat transfer coefficient, W/m2 C
As the surface area through which convection heat transfer takes
place
Ts the surface temperature
T the temperature of the fluid sufficiently far from the surface.

The convection heat transfer coefficient h is not a property of

the fluid.
It is an experimentally determined parameter whose value depends
on all the variables influencing convection such as
- the surface geometry
- the nature of fluid motion
- the properties of the fluid
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- the bulk fluid velocity

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Radiation
Radiation: The energy emitted by matter in the form of
electromagnetic waves (or photons) as a result of the
changes in the electronic configurations of the atoms or
molecules.
Unlike conduction and convection, the transfer of heat
by radiation does not require the presence of an
intervening medium.
In fact, heat transfer by radiation is fastest (at the
speed of light) and it suffers no attenuation in a
vacuum. This is how the energy of the sun reaches the
earth.
In heat transfer studies we are interested in thermal
radiation, which is the form of radiation emitted by
bodies because of their temperature.
All bodies at a temperature above absolute zero emit
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thermal radiation.

Net radiation heat transfer: The difference between

the rates of radiation emitted by the surface and the
radiation absorbed.
The determination of the net rate of heat transfer by
radiation between two surfaces is a complicated matter
since it depends on
Properties of the surfaces
Their orientation relative to each other
Interaction of the medium between the surfaces with
radiation
Blackbody:
The idealized
surface that
emits
radiation
at
the maximum
rate.
StefanBoltzmann

Law

= 5.670 10 W/m K StefanBoltzmann

constant
8

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When a surface is completely enclosed by a much larger

(or black) surface at temperature Tsurr separated by a gas
(such as air) that does not intervene with radiation, the
net rate of radiation heat transfer between these two
surfaces is given by
Emissivity : A
measure of how
closely a surface
approximates
a
blackbody
for
which = 1 of
the surface. 0
1.

Radiation heat transfer between a surface and the surfaces

surrounding it.

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