HTGR Knowledge Base

Conference Article: Design And Experiment Investigations of Compact Recuperators For Reactor Plants With Gas-Turbine Cycle

Abstract

The concept of direct closed gas turbine cycle application for effective generation of electric energy in modular HTGR characterized by maximum attainable level of passive safety for the reactor plants is an advanced power technology and at the same time generates some design problems. One of the problems is integration of the main components of power conversion unit in particular heat exchange equipment in one vessel. Heat exchangers efficiency in direct gas turbine cycle is a key parameter determining the indices of the plant efficiency on the whole [1]. That is why when arranging in the vessel of limited dimensions they should meet such contradictory requirements as high compactness at simultaneous provision of high thermohydraulic characteristics. In GT-MHR plant in power conversion unit a recuperative gas turbine cycle with intermediate cooling is realized. The most complex problem is the provision of required characteristics of the recuperator located after the turbine in which the return to the cycle of useful energy with recuperation level not less than 95% should be provided. Comparative analysis has shown that the use of highly effective compact heat transfer surfaces in the recuperator can meet the presented strict requirements. But together with high heat engineering indices and compactness it should have high strength characteristics, which provide reliable long operation at the temperatures up to 600 °? and pressure drop at heat transfer surface (between the circuits) up to 5 MPa. Such operation conditions are outside the range of traditional compact heat exchangers application so it required the development of the new design on the basis of the old one. OKBM has developed the design of compact modular recuperator in which each module consists of heat exchange elements (HEE). Design characteristics of key components (including highly effective recuperator), which provide qualitative indices of GTMHR, should be confirmed by representative tests. In 1998-1999 in OKBM a full-scale recuperator HEE was fabricated and its mechanical and heat engineering investigations were performed. The experience of HEE model fabrication and the results of the performed experimental investigations as a whole gave positive results and confirmed the fundamental design decisions and calculation approaches. Besides the directions of the design updating were determined.

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Reference:

Proceedings of the Conference on High Temperature Reactors, Beijing, China, September, 22-24, 2004

International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (Austria)

HTR-2004, pp:1-6