Development of a Dynamic Model For a 250 kW Supercritical CO2 Simple Regenerative Brayton Cycle Plant

Carleton University is designing and building a 250 kW supercritical CO2simple regenerative closed loop Brayton cycle power plant as a stand-alone facility, initially for ongoing research and development to understand plant performance under a variety of operating conditions. The project involves gas turbine design, heat exchanger design, piping system design, components and materials selection, control systems design, and dynamic modelling and simulation.

Carleton University, in collaboration with Gastops Ltd., have developed a dynamic model of the pilot-scale power plant in the MATLAB-Simulink environment. The purpose of the dynamic model is to simulate steady state design and off-design operating points, transient state performance between operating points, potential equipment failure modes and their effects, control system strategies and algorithms, sensitivity analyses of key parameters on plant performance, and plant operation in support of demonstration, training, and troubleshooting.

This paper presents an overview of the development of the dynamic model. Major components that have been modelled include the permanent magnet motor-generator, turbine, compressor, pipe impedance heater, recuperator, precooler, hot and cold piping system, bypass valve, throttle valve, inventory control system, and plant supervisory monitoringand control system. Both steady state and transient state simulation results have been generated to illustrate the anticipated performance of the power plant.