Brayton cycle
Revision as of 10:10, 2 October 2022 by Michel Lamontagne (talk | contribs)
The Brayton cycle is a thermodynamic cycle that can be used for power generation. It uses a gas a working medium.
- An airplane turbo engine is an example of an open Brayton cycle
- A nuclear reactor power plant using helium cooling is an example of a closed Brayton cycle.
- The ideal equation for a Brayton cycle is efficiency(ef) = 1-Tc/Th.
- An actual Brayton engine has a number of inefficiencies and non-reversible, so the actual efficiency is significantly lower.
So for a high efficiency Brayton cycle, Th needs to be significantly higher than Tc.
- For example, with an efficiency of 40% Tc/Th is 0,6. If Tc is 500K, then Th is 830K.
- For the same example at 60% efficiency, Tc/Th=0,4, and for a TC of 500K Th is 1250K.
- If applied to a closed cycle used on Mars, Tc is the radiator temperature, and Th would be the temperature of the reactor core.
