Title: Thermodynamic analysis of different cycles for high-temperature concentrated solar power applications

Authors: Rajesh Mavuri; Kosamana Bhaskara Rao; R. Sivakumar

Addresses: School of Mechanical Science and Buildings (SMBS), VIT University, Chennai 600127, India ' School of Mechanical Science and Buildings (SMBS), VIT University, Chennai 600127, India ' School of Mechanical Science and Buildings (SMBS), VIT University, Chennai 600127, India

Abstract: With growing interest in renewable energy sources, cycles with high efficiency are critical to achieving cost-parity with non-renewable sources. As increase in operating temperature continue to be hunted, supercritical CO₂ Brayton cycles begin to look more attractive despite the development costs of the technology. The maximum temperature that could be obtained from solar based conventional power plants are limited to 600°C. But with the advancement in solar receiving equipment's like the usage of heliostats, the temperatures around 1200°C could be achieved. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) has been widely investigated for use as a working fluid in refrigeration cycles. In this paper, CO₂ is used as a working fluid for closed loop thermodynamic cycles and performance of different cycles are analysed at different and results are compared against standard air Brayton cycle. Different options like inter stage cooling, recuperation and combination of two are analysed to improve net thermal efficiency.

Keywords: CO2 power cycles; carbon dioxide; solar power; supercritical CO2 cycle; Brayton cycle; thermodynamic analysis; concentrated power; solar energy; heliostats; working fluids; interstage cooling; recuperation; thermal efficiency.

DOI: 10.1504/PIE.2015.073093

Progress in Industrial Ecology, An International Journal, 2015 Vol.9 No.2, pp.144 - 152

Received: 11 Apr 2015
Accepted: 04 Aug 2015
Published online: 16 Nov 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article