Operational Curves for HTGR's Coupled to Closed Brayton Cycle Power Conversion Systems
- Sandia National Laboratories, PO Box 5800, Albuquerque New Mexico 87185 (United States)
Gas Cooled Reactors (GCR) that drive Closed Brayton Cycle (CBC) systems are being evaluated by the Department of Energy (DOE) Next Generation Program for high-efficiency electricity generation. This paper describes the operational performance of measured and predicted closed Brayton cycles. The measured results were obtained from an electrically driven closed Brayton cycle test loop that Sandia fabricated and has operating within the laboratories. The predicted behavior is based on integrated dynamic system models that are capable of predicting both the transient and steady state behavior of reactor driven Brayton cycle systems. Sandia contracted Barber Nichols Corporation to modify a Capstone C30 open-cycle Brayton engine so that it could be operated in a closed loop. We are currently operating the test loop to validate the models and to study control issues. Operation of the test-loop and developing the system models has allowed Sandia to develop and validate a set of tools and models that are being used to determine how nuclear reactors operate with gas turbine power conversion systems. Both measured and modeled operational performance curves will be presented to show how the electrical load (or power generated) varies as a function of shaft speed for various turbine inlet temperatures and for a fixed fill gas inventory. The measured and modeled behavior of the test loop both reveal the non-linear nature of the reactor and Brayton cycle loop because for a fixed electrical load there are two shaft speeds that can produce this steady-state power. Closer examination of the system of equations shows that only one of these steady-state solutions is dynamically stable. An active electronic control system will be required to operate at the more efficient but dynamically unstable point, and some means of controlling the flow via inventory control or bypass flow valves will also be required. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 21016401
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2006 International congress on advances in nuclear power plants - ICAPP'06, Reno - Nevada (United States), 4-8 Jun 2006; Other Information: Country of input: France; 13 refs; Related Information: In: Proceedings of the 2006 international congress on advances in nuclear power plants - ICAPP'06, 2734 pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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