This book includes material on all major topics in applied thermodynamics with emphasis on power production from conventional and renewable sources. The book is written for an undergraduate course and the presentation assumes that students have successfully completed an introductory unit in thermodynamics. The material in the book has been used and tested over several years by many students studying Mechanical Engineering and Environmental Engineering, in the third year of their four-year (eight-semester) course.

Chapters 1-9 of this book cover the various topics relevant to the conventional power production processes (including solar energy). Because of the increasing importance of renewable energy in meeting the constantly growing demand for power, detailed information on power from other renewable sources is also included in Chapters 10-12.

The book starts with a review of the basic concepts in thermodynamics that have been covered in the introductory thermodynamics class. Chapters 2-4 then look at a number of topics (vapour power systems, gas turbinesand internal combustion engines) in more detail to extend the students' knowledge of the subject beyond what has been taught at the previous level. In Chapter 5, the concept of cogeneration is fully described. Chapters 6 and 7 illustrate combustion stoichiometry and kinetics, respectively. Refrigeration cycles and heat pumps are introduced in Chapter 8, followed by a detailed description of solar power in Chapter 9. Chapters 10-12 contain basic information and data on wind power, hydroelectric power, and power from biomass and other renewable sources.

Although the general approach has been to present the theory first followed by numerical examples, in some cases, examples have been used to introduce theory in a PBL (Problem-Based Learning) style. Since the book is mainly used by mechanical engineering students, the examples have been selected for their appeal to this group. The practice problems at the end of each chapter in the book are chosen to reflect the importance of the various topics discussed in that section. Examination type questions are also included under Review Questions in Appendix G to assist studentswhen reviewing the subject, and to help lecturers in the preparation of examination papers. For easy access, the most commonly used terms in thermodynamics are described in a glossary in Appendix F

In writing this book, I have benefited from my experience with early draft versions and the comments I have received from my students. I have revised the material accordingly with the hope of making the book even more suitable for use as an undergraduate textbook. Since the first published edition of this book, it has been revised on a number of occasions. These changes included corrections, alterations, clarifications and the addition of a Solutions CD Rom. Together with these earlier changes, the second edition of this book incorporates many substantial revisions and improvements throughout the text, as well as additional material in a number of chapters. There are new problems in many chapters, new material on solar energy and new references. Overall, the second edition is a substantially altered and improved book over the first edition.

I am very grateful to my former colleague, Mr. Robert Gani, who thoroughly reviewed the first draft of the manuscript of this book and gave me immeasurable feedback. Bob's comments have undoubtedly improved the quality and accuracy of the material presented here. I am also grateful to ASME Press for the permission to use their steam table data, and to the designers at Eruditions Publishing for their meticulous work in laying out the book.

Mir-Akbar Hessami, PhD

Clayton, Victoria

February 2006

TEACHING AIDS

A Solutions Manual for the end of chapter problems is provided on a CD attached to

the back cover of this book. The Review Questions in Appendix G are not provided

with solutions and can therefore be used for examination purposes.