Power and efficiency optimization for combined Brayton and two parallel inverse Brayton cycles. Part 1: Description and modelling

Abstract

A thermodynamic model for open combined Brayton and two parallel inverse Brayton cycles is established using finite-time thermodynamics in part A of the current paper. The flow processes of the working fluid with the pressure drops of the working fluid and the size constraints of the real power plant are modelled. There are 17 flow resistances encountered by the gas stream for the combined Brayton and two parallel inverse Brayton cycles. Six of these, the friction through the blades and vanes of the compressors and the turbines, are related to the isentropic efficiencies. The remaining flow resistances are always present because of the changes in flow cross-section at the compressor inlet of the top cycle, combustion inlet and outlet, turbine outlet of the top cycle, turbine outlets of the bottom cycle, heat exchanger inlets, and compressor inlets of the bottom cycle. These resistances control the air flowrate and the net power output. The relative pressure drops associated with the flow through various cross-sectional areas are derived as functions of the compressor inlet relative pressure drop of the top cycle. The analytical formulae about the relations between power output, thermal conversion efficiency, and the compressor pressure ratio of the top cycle are derived with the 17 pressure drop losses in the intake, compression, combustion, expansion, and flow process in the piping, the heat transfer loss to ambient, the irreversible compression and expansion losses in the compressors and the turbines, and the irreversible combustion loss in the combustion chamber. The performance of the model cycle is optimized by adjusting the compressor inlet pressure of the bottom cycles, the mass flowrate and the distribution of pressure losses along the flow path in part B of the current paper.

Keywords

Brayton cycle inverse Brayton cycle combined cycle pressure drop loss finite-time thermodynamics

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