Design and off-Design Performance Analysis of a Zigzag Channeled Precooler For SCO2 Recompression Cycle Integrated with CSP

Abstract

The design and performance analysis of Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger (PCHE) as pre-cooler is being recent research trend as the researches on recuperator has already been saturated. The improbable fluctuating properties of sCO2 near the critical region makes it arduous to design a component that runs under the critical region. However, the high heat transfer coefficient at near critical region is advantageous in increasing the second law efficiency of the power cycle and reducing the size of cycle components, making it cost effective. In this study an iterative nodal approach is implemented to develop a design code in Python language for the design of zigzag channeled PCHE as the pre-cooler for sCO2 recompression cycle integrated with Concentrated Solar Power technology. For the real gas properties (RGP) of sCO2 CoolProp is used. The performance study done under different sCO2 inlet pressure and different water inlet temperature suggest the heat transfer rate can be enhanced by lowering the water inlet temperature and sCO2 pressure down to 7.5MPa. The result also shows the pressure drop on SCO2 side decreases upon increasing these parameters. The outcomes derived from this work can be used to design and develop more advanced PCHEs for pre-cooler application for wide range of Cooling-loads.