Advanced supercritical carbon dioxide power cycle configurations for use in concentrating solar power systems

In the proposed design, a single-phase process using supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) as both heat transfer fluid (HTF) and thermal power cycle fluid simplifies the power system configuration. The design is compatible with sensible-heat thermal energy storage, if desired. The simpler machinery and compact size of the S-CO2 process may also reduce the installation, maintenance and operation cost of the system. 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. The lower thermal mass makes startup and load change faster for frequent start up/shut down operations and load adaption than a HTF/steam based system. The research will characterize and evaluate advanced S-CO2 Brayton cycle power generation with a modular power tower CSP system.