Microsoft Word - Cengel and Boles TOC _2-03-05_.doc

Irreversibility can be viewed as the wasted work potentialor the lost
opportunityto do work. It represents the energy that could have been con-
verted to work but was not. The smaller the irreversibility associated with a
process, the greater the work that is produced (or the smaller the work that
is consumed). The performance of a system can be improved by minimizing
the irreversibility associated with it.

Chapter 8 | 429

EXAMPLE 8–3 The Rate of Irreversibility of a Heat Engine

A heat engine receives heat from a source at 1200 K at a rate of 500 kJ/s

and rejects the waste heat to a medium at 300 K (Fig. 8–11). The power

output of the heat engine is 180 kW. Determine the reversible power and the

irreversibility rate for this process.

Solution The operation of a heat engine is considered. The reversible power

and the irreversibility rate associated with this operation are to be determined.

Analysis The reversible power for this process is the amount of power that a

reversible heat engine, such as a Carnot heat engine, would produce when

operating between the same temperature limits, and is determined to be:

This is the maximum power that can be produced by a heat engine operating

between the specified temperature limits and receiving heat at the specified

rate. This would also represent the available powerif 300 K were the lowest

temperature available for heat rejection.

The irreversibility rate is the difference between the reversible power (max-

imum power that could have been produced) and the useful power output:

Discussion Note that 195 kW of power potential is wasted during this

process as a result of irreversibilities. Also, the 500  375 
125 kW of

heat rejected to the sink is not available for converting to work and thus is

not part of the irreversibility.

I

#


W

#

rev,outW

#

u,out
^375 ^180 
195 kW

W

#

rev
hth,rev^ Q

#

in
a^1 

Tsink

Tsource

bQ

#

in
a^1 

300 K

1200 K

b1500 kW 2 
375 kW

EXAMPLE 8–4 Irreversibility during the Cooling

of an Iron Block

A 500-kg iron block shown in Fig. 8–12 is initially at 200°C and is allowed

to cool to 27°C by transferring heat to the surrounding air at 27°C. Deter-

mine the reversible work and the irreversibility for this process.

Solution A hot iron block is allowed to cool in air. The reversible work and

irreversibility associated with this process are to be determined.

Assumptions 1 The kinetic and potential energies are negligible. 2 The

process involves no work interactions.

·

·

Sink 300 K

HE

W = 180 kW

Qin = 500 kJ/s

Source 1200 K

FIGURE 8–11

Schematic for Example 8–3.

Surrounding air

IRON

200 °C

27 °C

T 0 = 27°C

Heat

FIGURE 8–12

Schematic for Example 8–4.