RU2443879C2 - Plant with open working cycle for generation of mechanical or electric energy - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: electricity.

SUBSTANCE: plant with the open working cycle for generation of mechanical or electric energy comprises a device of atmospheric air intake, a compressor, a nuclear reactor and a gas turbine driven by heated compressed air, with capability of subsequent discharge of spent air into atmosphere. The nuclear reactor is a high-temperature fast breeder nuclear reactors cooled with compressed air. The nuclear reactor core comprises rod fuel elements enclosed into a tight shell with capability to perform heat exchange through it. The plant is also equipped with a filter for atmospheric air treatment.

EFFECT: reduction of chemically hazardous substances in the exhaust.

2 cl, 1 dwg

Description

The invention relates to the field of power engineering, power engineering and nuclear energy and can be used in the construction of plants that convert heat into mechanical or electrical energy.

A known power plant (gas turbine power plant), designed to produce electricity in areas where there is a large amount of cheap fuel (RF patent No. 22545445, publication of the description on January 27, 2005). The installation operates on a closed duty cycle and contains a compressor driven by the energy of the electric network, a steam turbine boiler heated by burning solid (coal, peat, wood waste) or liquid (oil, fuel oil) fuel, a gas turbine paired with an electric generator, and a refrigerator, cooled by running water. The working gas (air, argon, nitrogen, helium) is adiabatically compressed by a compressor, heated in a steam turbine boiler and sent to the rotor of a gas turbine, where the gas rotates the turbine and, adiabatically expanding, performs mechanical work that is converted into electricity. The exhaust gas enters the refrigerator, cooled by running water, and at the initial pressure and temperature it enters the compressor for the next working cycle, which can be repeated several times.

The disadvantages of this installation are: the limited possibility of its use (only for areas with large reserves of second-class fuel), a large need for water, corrosion of heat pipes and equipment while lowering the temperature of the exhaust gases, as well as pollution and clogging of the refrigerator nozzle with deposits. It should also be noted that this installation has a low efficiency and requires high maintenance costs.

Known installations for the production of electricity using nuclear reactors as high-temperature heat sources. For example, a power plant with a gas-cooled reactor is known, which includes a closed loop of gaseous coolant (helium) passing through the reactor core, with a compressor and a steam generator, and a circuit of a steam turbine installation containing a steam generator, a steam turbine, a condenser, a steam heat exchanger through which passes a gaseous coolant circuit located in front of the steam generator, an electric generator located on the same shaft as the turbine, a steam-water heating pump, Proposition between the condenser and the steam generator and the steam supply line with a control valve (RF №2160839 Patent Publication description of 20.12.2000). Heat is removed from the reactor core using helium circulating in a closed loop. When using helium as a heat carrier, it is necessary to comply with the requirement that the circuit be closed and limit the loss of heat medium to the maximum. Due to heat exchange with helium, the condensate in the steam generator evaporates with the formation of steam, then the steam overheats with increasing pressure in the heat exchanger-heater. In the turbine, the steam expands and does useful work, which is converted into electricity by means of a generator, from the turbine the steam enters the condenser, where it condenses due to heat exchange with the cooling system. Then the condensate enters the steam-water pump-heater, where at the same time steam enters through the line through an adjustable valve, where intensive mixing of steam and condensate takes place, after which the heated condensate is supplied to the steam generator.

Thus, in a known installation, heat from a nuclear reactor is transferred directly by heat exchange to the steam turbine circuit, and compared with the previous installation, this design partially eliminates its inherent disadvantages, however, heat-resistant materials of superheater units have low neutron-physical parameters, which reduces the efficiency of the installation and leaves low efficiency.

Installations for the production of electricity are also known, including a gas turbine driven by air at high pressure and temperature, while the air used to drive the turbine is emitted into the atmosphere, for example, an installation operating in an open duty cycle (RF patent No. 2194869, publication of the description on 12/20/02). Before being discharged into the atmosphere, the hot gas exiting the turbine can be directed to one or more steam generators or heat exchangers to produce dry steam, which can drive one or more turbines. A cascade, for example, of two high and low pressure turbines, which are mounted on the same shaft as the gas turbine, is used to drive the electric generator. This installation is selected as a prototype and its circuit includes an atmospheric air intake device, a filter for cleaning it, two compressors for adiabatic compression, a heat source for heating compressed air - a combustion chamber located between the compressor and the high-pressure turbine and a gas turbine installed in action with heated air with the possibility of subsequent discharge of exhaust air into the atmosphere. The air is cleaned, heated or cooled in a contact heat exchanger, followed by compression in compressors and fed to a combustion chamber, which also supplies fuel, such as natural gas and steam. The resulting combustion products are expanded in turbines with the generation of electricity and then fed for cooling to a waste steam generator and a contact condenser, followed by cooling and drying, and then removed through the chimney to the atmosphere.

A disadvantage of the known installation is the large size, bulkiness and complexity of the design of the devices included in it, in addition, the gas emitted into the atmosphere still has a significant amount of heat, which is irrationally released into the atmosphere and contains chemically harmful substances (carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides).

The technical result of the claimed invention is the compactness and mobility of the installation, and the absence of chemically harmful substances in the emission.

The specified technical result is achieved due to the fact that in an installation with an open operating cycle for the production of mechanical or electrical energy, in which air is used as a working medium and in the circuit of which an air intake device, a filter for its purification, a compressor for adiabatic compression are included, a heat source for heating compressed air and a gas turbine unit driven by heated air with the possibility of subsequent discharge of exhaust air into the atmosphere, as and a heat source for heating compressed air using a high-temperature nuclear reactor with fast neutrons, cooled by air used as the working fluid of the installation.

The use of a high-temperature fast neutron reactor cooled by air used as a working fluid allows one to quickly increase its temperature to the core temperature, without using natural gas or other fuel requiring supply pipelines, supplying the required amount of oxygen for combustion, containers or tanks for fuel, etc. In this case, the use of air removes restrictions on the closed circuit, simplifies the functional diagram of the installation in view of the absence of refrigerators, heat exchangers, gas pipelines, etc. Carrying out heat removal from nuclear fuel (fuel rods) using air, it is possible to use more economical turbines designed for higher parameters of the working fluid, and heat exchange with the coolant through the sealed cladding of the fuel rods eliminates the penetration of radionuclides into the coolant, while the absence of combustion products in it eliminates from chemically harmful impurities in the discharge.

The drawing shows a functional diagram of an installation with an open duty cycle for the production of mechanical or electrical energy, where:

1 - air intake device;

2 - air filter;

3 - compressor;

4 - reactor;

5 - gas turbine;

6 - electric generator;

7 - exhaust air device.

An example of the claimed device can serve as an installation with an open duty cycle for the production of mechanical or electrical energy, made with an open circuit, through which air is pumped, used as a working fluid. The circuit includes an inlet air path, which includes an air intake device, an air filter connected to each other and to a low-pressure compressor by an air duct, and the compressor is connected to the inlet manifold of the reactor core. The exhaust tract includes a gas turbine connected by a gas pipeline to the outlet manifold of the reactor core and with an exhaust air discharge device. The gas turbine drive is connected to an alternator installed with it on the same shaft. As a gas turbine, a classic design driven by an air medium is used. As a reactor, a gas-cooled fast neutron reactor with rod fuel elements is used, where air is used as a heat carrier.

The installation works as follows.

Atmospheric air is taken through the air intake device 1 and fed through the air duct to the filter 2, where it is cleaned of dust and solid particles, then it is fed through the air duct to the inlet of the low pressure compressor 3, where it is compressed and fed into the inlet manifold of the active zone of the nuclear reactor 4. B in the active zone, the coolant enters the space between the fuel rods and is in contact with them. The fuel rods are rods with a core of uranium oxide, enclosed in a sealed steel shell. Heat transfer of the coolant and fuel elements is carried out through this shell, as a result of its passage through the active zone to the output collector, the air is heated to the temperature of the active zone, after which it is diverted through the gas pipeline from the output collector of the active zone of the nuclear reactor 4 to a high pressure gas turbine 5 to drive the action and conversion of mechanical energy of the turbine into electrical energy by using an alternator 6, and then the exhaust air is removed into the atmosphere through an exhaust device air (chimney) 7.

Thus, the proposed installation for the production of mechanical or electrical energy is compact, mobile, functional.

Claims (2)

1. Installation with an open operating cycle for the production of mechanical or electrical energy, containing a device for intake of atmospheric air, a compressor, a nuclear reactor and a gas turbine driven by heated compressed air, with the possibility of subsequent discharge of exhaust air into the atmosphere, characterized in that as The nuclear reactor uses a high-temperature fast neutron reactor cooled by compressed air, the active zone of which contains rod rods enclosed in a hermetic a shell, with the possibility of heat exchange through it. 2. Installation according to claim 1, characterized in that it is equipped with a filter for cleaning atmospheric air.