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Design And Evaluation Of A High Temperature/Pressure Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Direct Tubular Receiver For Concentrating Solar Power Applications, Jesus Daniel Ortega

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This work focuses on the development of a solar power thermal receiver for a supercritical-carbon dioxide (sCO2), Brayton power-cycle to produce ~1 MWe. Closed-loop sCO2 Brayton cycles are being evaluated in combination with concentrating solar power to provide higher thermal-to-electric conversion efficiencies relative to conventional steam Rankine cycles. High temperatures (923 - 973 K) and pressures (20 - 25 MPa) are required in the solar receiver to achieve thermal efficiencies of ~50%, making concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies a competitive alternative to current power generation methods. In this study, the CSP receiver is required to achieve an outlet temperature of …