Session: Student Poster Competition

Submission Number: 187496

Analysis of High Temperature Heat Pipes for Integration in High-Tit Sco2 Power Cycles for Advanced Nuclear Systems 

Supercritical CO₂ (sCO₂) power cycles have demonstrated the potential to achieve high heat-to-electricity conversion efficiencies in a compact footprint, making them attractive choices for next-generation nuclear energy applications.

Building on previous numerical studies, this work investigates heat pipes designed to transfer high heat fluxes from nuclear reactor to a Supercritical CO₂ heat exchanger, that supplies a closed Supercritical CO₂ Brayton cycle. Use of a high turbine inlet temperature, which is here enabled by high-temperature heat pipe, leads to higher thermal conversion efficiency while requiring a cooled turbine. It should be noted that steam turbines based on Rankine cycle cannot compete with Supercritical CO₂ cycle with cooled turbines in terms of either energy conversion efficiency or compactness of turbomachineries (and hence capital cost), especially in applications where space constraints are dominant considerations.

Analytical and Computational studies are performed to minimize energy destruction and to assess key performance limits, including capillary, sonic, and entrainment constraints, across various wick geometries and dimensions.

The results, of this study, identify design configurations that maximise heat transport capacity while maintaining operational stability, emphasizing the potential of heat pipes to efficiently transfer heat from nuclear side to power cycle, while maximizing exergy transfer to the power cycle.

Presenting Author: Davide Marino Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research, University of Central Florida

Presenting Author Biography: Davide Marino is a Ph.D. student in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Central Florida and a researcher at the Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research (CATER) laboratory. His research focuses on high-temperature heat pipes for integration in supercritical CO₂ power cycles for advanced nuclear systems.

Authors:

Davide Marino Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research, University of Central Florida
Elena Torres Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research, University of Central Florida
Abhilash Prasad Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research, University of Central Florida
Marcel Otto Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research, University of Central Florida
Kenneth Armijo Sandia National Laboratories
Jayanta Kapat Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research, University of Central Florida