Posted on 03/06/2011 5:07:27 PM PST by Wonder Warthog
Sandia National Laboratories researchers are moving into the demonstration phase of a novel gas turbine system for power generation, with the promise that thermal-to-electric conversion efficiency will be increased to as much as 50 percent — an improvement of 50 percent for nuclear power stations equipped with steam turbines, or a 40 percent improvement for simple gas turbines. The system is also very compact, meaning that capital costs would be relatively low.
Research focuses on supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) Brayton-cycle turbines, which typically would be used for bulk thermal and nuclear generation of electricity, including next-generation power reactors. The goal is eventually to replace steam-driven Rankine cycle turbines, which have lower efficiency, are corrosive at high temperature and occupy 30 times as much space because of the need for very large turbines and condensers to dispose of excess steam. The Brayton cycle could yield 20 megawatts of electricity from a package with a volume as small as four cubic meters.
The Brayton cycle, named after George Brayton, originally functioned by heating air in a confined space and then releasing it in a particular direction. The same principle is used to power jet engines today.
"This machine is basically a jet engine running on a hot liquid," said principal investigator Steve Wright of Sandia's Advanced Nuclear Concepts group. "There is a tremendous amount of industrial and scientific interest in supercritical CO2 systems for power generation using all potential heat sources including solar, geothermal, fossil fuel, biofuel and nuclear."
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/03/supercritical-carbon-dioxide-brayton.html
http://www.talk-polywell.org/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2951
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-supercritical-carbon-dioxide-brayton-turbines.html
Working links.
Note the comparison of relative sizes of the generators from the “Next Big Future” article. This thing is TINY compared to current devices.
Not only that but turbine ship power.
The system may be very compact, and it may also have capital costs — that does not mean that the one necessarily follows the other.
wow!
Not necessarily, true. But there seems to be very little that is "exotic" about the physical infrastructure, so I would indeed expect it to be significantly less expensive.
For anything to be promising we have to survive 2 more years of Obama. It will be a close call at best.
Indeed. One of the links has comments on the ramifications of the reduced size and increased efficiency for nuclear subs and carriers. Steam turbines are "big". By comparison, this thing is a gnat.
The last thing on earth they want is cheaper energy.
Unfortunately true. But I think in this case it will be a "hard sell" to the public, because it will inherently reduce environmental impact of existing sources, and make new sources economically feasible. One of the links talks about current small "waste-to-heat" plants (like city and industrial incinerators) which don't currently produce electricity, but with these small, highly efficienct units, become feasible electrical power sources with NO (zero) increase in emissions.
If it leaks, just think of all the CO2 that will be released!! /s
“If it works, the eco-freaks will find some reason why we cannot use it. “
Don’t forget the Feds.
Oh, I think we'll survive "two" years with damage. But if he gets re-elected, I'm not so sure. Fortunately, evidence of his incompetence piles up day after day after day.
"Oh, Gawd! Gag me with that cheap suit! If you come any closer, I swear I'll jump!
Makes more sense than the crap the greenies are pushing
I wonder how many times we’re going to see this.
Heh! I didn't write the headline....just posted it. Yeah, there's just a "tiny" bit of hyperbole there.
This may be a major development. This is the type of thing our National Laboratories should be doing rather than wasting resources on Solar and Wind.
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