Abstract:

The use of computer tools to consolidate concepts and to help to resolve different exercises is a very useful way for the university students, in general, and for the engineering students in particular. The content associated with some basic subjects in the first courses, e.g. Thermodynamics, imply to work with terms and properties usually abstract for the students, with the consequent increase in the difficulty to learn them. To solve this, in this work an application which allows to calculate different thermodynamic properties of water is presented. This compound is selected since it is the work fluid in the Rankine cycle (power plants) and in refrigeration processes.

This program covers different objectives:
i) to provide to students an easy-to-use interface to solve thermodynamic exercises,
ii) to avoid wasting time and the possible errors associated with looking up these properties in tables and the necessary interpolations between values,
iii) to propose a line-work for a Final Year Project in Electrics or Electronics Engineering Degree.

Although different programs with similar objectives are available in internet, some additional requirements or improvements are pursued with this application . Firstly, it must be a very intuitive software in which, from two thermodynamic parameters (P, T, V) or from a state functions (u, h, s) and a thermodynamic parameter, the rest of parameters can be calculated. Second, exergy (state function rarely used) has been included in the results. Third, all the states or points were plotted. Four, the software is free for our students and in the future, for any person.

Keywords:

Thermodynamics, Graphical interface, Engineering.