Development of correction method considering real gas effect for S-CO$_2$ compressor performance evaluation and operating limits

Abstract

A supercritical CO2 (S-CO$_2$) power cycle is a compact and highly efficient energy conversion system, so it is expected to be applicable to small modular reactor. For system level analysis of an S-CO$_2$ cycle, off-design performance predictions of components are necessary. Compressor performance including normal operation and surge limit is generally presented in a performance map. The underlying assumption for the compressor performance map is fixed inlet temperature and pressure. In an air compressor, the variation of temperature and pressure are converted to the variation of mass flow rate and rpm by applying a similitude model. Since CO$_2$ property changes near the critical point dramatically, the validity of a similitude model for an S-CO$_2$ compressor should be re-confirmed. In this dissertation, available S-CO$_2$ compressor performance data is first collected, and additional compressor data is produced with AMB-TAC. By using the data, pre-existing similitude models are evaluated in terms of predicting off-design operational performances as well as surge limit.