Summary:
A domestic research program called TECNO_FUS was launched in Spain in 2009 to support technological developments related to a dual coolant breeding blanket concept for fusion reactors. This concept of blanket uses Helium (300 °C/400 °C) to cool part of it and a liquid metal (480 °C/700 °C) to cool the rest; it also includes high temperature (700 °C/800 °C) and medium temperature (566 °C/700 °C) Helium cooling circuits for divertor. This paper proposes a new layout of the classical recompression supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle which replaces one of the recuperators (the one with the highest temperature) by another which by-passes the low temperature blanket source. This arrangement allows reaching high turbine inlet temperatures (around 600 °C) with medium pressures (around 225 bar) and achieving high cycle efficiencies (close to 46.5%). So, the proposed cycle reveals as a promising design because it integrates all the available thermal sources in a compact layout achieving high efficiencies with the usual parameters prescribed in classical recompression supercritical CO2 Brayton cycles.
Keywords: Brayton cycle; Dual coolant blanket; Power conversion system; Recompression Brayton cycle; Supercritical CO2 cycle
JCR Impact Factor and WoS quartile: 1,152 - Q2 (2014); 1,900 - Q1 (2023)
DOI reference:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fusengdes.2014.03.083
Published on paper: October 2014.
Published on-line: April 2014.
Citation:
I.P. Serrano, J.I. Linares, A. Cantizano, B.Y. Moratilla, Enhanced arrangement for recuperators in supercritical CO2 Brayton power cycle for energy conversion in fusion reactors. Fusion Engineering and Design. Vol. 89, nº. 9-10, pp. 1909 - 1912, October 2014. [Online: April 2014]
