Computational analysis of supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle power conversion system for fusion reactor

The Optimized Supercritical Cycle Analysis (OSCA) code is being developed to analyze the design of a supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) driven Brayton cycle for a fusion reactor as part of the Modular Optimal Balance Integral System (MOBIS). This system is based on a recompression Brayton cycle. S-CO2 is adopted as the working fluid for MOBIS because of its easy availability, high density and low chemical reactivity. The reheating concept is introduced to enhance the cycle thermal efficiency. The helium-cooled lithium lead model AB of DEMO fusion reactor is used as reference in this paper.

► Computational analysis of S-CO2 Brayton cycle power conversion system. ► Validation of numerical model with literature data. ► Recompression S-CO2 Brayton cycle thermal efficiency of 42.44%. ► Reheating concept to enhance the cycle thermal efficiency. ► Higher efficiency achieved by the proposed concept.