Supercritical carbon dioxide (SCO2) Brayton cycles have the potential to offer improved thermal-to-electric conversion efficiency for utility scale electricity production. These cycles have generated considerable interest in recent years because of this potential and are being considered for a range of applications, including nuclear and concentrating solar power (CSP). Two promising SCO2 power cycle variations are the simple Brayton cycle with recuperation and the recompression cycle. The models described in this paper are appropriate for the analysis and optimization of both cycle configurations under a range of design conditions. The recuperators in the cycle are modeled assuming a con stant heat exchanger conductance value, which allows for computationally efficient opti mization o f the cycle's design parameters while accounting for the rapidly varying fluid properties of carbon dioxide near its critical point. Representing the recuperators using conductance, rather than effectiveness, allows for a more appropriate comparison among design-point conditions because a larger conductance typically corresponds more directly to a physically larger and higher capital cost heat exchanger. The model is used to explore the relationship between recuperator size and heat rejection temperature of the cycle, specifically in regard to maximizing thermal efficiency. The results presented in this paper are normalized by net power output and may be applied to cycles of any size. Under the design conditions considered for this analysis, results indicate that increasing the design high-side (compressor outlet) pressure does not always correspond to higher cycle thermal efficiency. Rather, there is an optimal compressor outlet pressure that is dependent on the recuperator size and operating temperatures of the cycle and is typi cally in the range o f30-35 MPa. Model results also indicate that the efficiency degrada tion associated with warmer heat rejection temperatures (e.g., in dry-cooled applications) are reduced by increasing the compressor inlet pressure. Because the opti mal design of a cycle depends upon a number of application-specific variables, the model presented in this paper is available online and is envisioned as a building block for more complex and specific simulations.

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants utilize oil, molten salt or steam as the heat transfer fluid (HTF) to transfer solar energy to the power block. These fluids have properties that limit plant performance; for example, the synthetic oil and molten salt have upper temperature limits of approximately 390°C and 565°C, respectively. While direct steam generation has been tested, it requires complex controls and has limited options for integration of thermal energy storage. Use of carbon dioxide as the HTF and power cycle working fluid offers the potential to increase thermal cycle efficiency while maintaining simplicity of operation and thermal storage options. Supercritical CO2 (s-CO2) operated in a closed-loop recompression Brayton cycle offers the potential of higher cycle efficiency versus superheated or supercritical steam cycles at temperatures relevant for CSP applications. Brayton-cycle systems using s-CO2 have smaller weight and volume, lower thermal mass, and less complex power blocks versus Rankine cycles due to the higher density of the fluid and simpler cycle design. Many s-CO2 Brayton power cycle configurations have been proposed and studied for nuclear applications; the most promising candidates include recompression, precompression, and partial cooling cycles. Three factors are important for incorporating s-CO2 into CSP plants: superior performance vs. steam Rankine cycles, ability to integrate thermal energy storage, and dry-cooling. This paper will present air-cooled s-CO2 cycle configurations specifically selected for a CSP application. The systems will consider 10-MW power blocks that are tower-mounted with an s-CO2 HTF and 100-MW, ground-mounted s-CO2 power blocks designed to receive molten salt HTF from a power tower.

Continuing efforts to increase the efficiency of utility-scale electricity generation has resulted in considerable interest in Brayton cycles operating with supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2). One of the advantages of S-CO2 Brayton cycles, compared to the more traditional steam Rankine cycle, is that equal or greater thermal efficiencies can be realized using significantly smaller turbomachinery. Another advantage is that heat rejection is not limited by the saturation temperature of the working fluid, facilitating dry cooling of the cycle (i.e., the use of ambient air as the sole heat rejection medium). While dry cooling is especially advantageous for power generation in arid climates, the reduction in water consumption at any location is of growing interest due to likely tighter environmental regulations being enacted in the future. Daily and seasonal weather variations coupled with electric load variations means the plant will operate away from its design point the majority of the year. Models capable of predicting the off-design and part-load performance of S-CO2 power cycles are necessary for evaluating cycle configurations and turbomachinery designs. This paper presents a flexible modeling methodology capable of predicting the steady state performance of various S-CO2 cycle configurations for both design and off-design ambient conditions, including part-load plant operation. The models assume supercritical CO2 as the working fluid for both a simple recuperated Brayton cycle and a more complex recompression Brayton cycle.

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A modeling methodology based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been developed that is appropriate for the global regime of lithographically directed, evaporation driven self-assembly. The modeling technique has been experimentally verified through comparison with the well-known benchmark case of evaporation driven self-assembly associated with the evaporation of a colloidal, self-pinned droplet. The predicted evolution of the particle distribution during evaporation is compared to optical experimental measurements of the particle distribution within an evaporating droplet containing fluorescing nanoparticles.