The Rankine Cycle is an excellent starting point for learning the fundamentals of any cyclic thermodynamic system. This teaching aid will relate the theoretical concepts of the first and second law of thermodynamics to the Rankine Cycle model.
By using an interactive approach, this program will help first year thermodynamic students better understand the Rankine cycle. Topics that will be included are first and second law efficiencies, how the Rankine cycle is inefficient, and how the Rankine cycle can be optimized. The complete cycle will be discussed and analyzed on a per component basis. The assumptions of each component will be explained, and the first and second laws will be applied to each component. T-s, P-h, and h-s diagrams, along with the ideas of work and heat transfer, will be illustrated and discussed in detail. Examples will lead into a general methodology of solving any Rankine cycle. The goal of this web site is to develop a program that will be used to assist in the understanding of the Rankine cycle.
Software Design
Rankine cycle for Dummies web site was designed using Microsoft FrontPage. Microsoft FrontPage is an interactive menu driven software used to build web pages. Since scripting is not supported on the www.eng.uwaterloo.ca server, a Countmaster (www.countmaster.com) counter was embedded into the homepage to record the number of visitors to the web site. Some programming in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) was done during the commissioning of the web page on to the Internet using Unix’s Pico text editor. Full HTML coding can be found in Appendix A. The graphics were drawn in Visio Technical 4.5, and the equations were embedded from Microsoft Equation Editor 3.0.
Feasibility Analysis of Software
HTML was used as the source of software due to its ability to be published on the Internet. With the ability of Internet publishing, students other than at University of Waterloo will be able to learn from this Rankine cycle tutorial.
Web Page Layout
The Rankine Cycle for Dummies site is organized into four main pages: simple Rankine Cycle, superheat, reheat, and regeneration. From the homepage, an introduction of the Rankine cycle can be found. Within each main web page, various hyperlinks are included to further explain and illustrate certain components. In addition, there is also a hyperlink in each main page illustrating an example question with solution. For ease of navigation, each main page is equipped with a navigation bar. The navigation bar will allow quick access to the homepage, and each of the main pages. Refer to Figure 1 for a flow chart diagram of the Rankine Cycle Site Layout.