Design of a primary heat exchanger in a sCO2 power cycle for energy storage systems

Renewable energy sources are the key for long-term decarbonisation of the energy system. However, the intermittent nature of renewables, such as solar energy or wind energy, does not always meet the energy demand in the electrical grid. Considering the fact that both electricity production and consumption vary independently, balancing the grid is a major challenge for the development of an energy system based on renewable energies. Within this framework, Thermal Energy Storage systems (TES) coupled with a power cycle have gained popularity since they can store energy from renewable sources during the periods of high production and release it when necessary.
To convert thermal energy into electricity, a power cycle is required. Given the relative high temperature range (600 - 1000 °C), supercritical CO2 (sCO2) is the most promising material as working fluid for the power cycle, from efficiency and safety considerations. Thus, the Primary Heat Exchanger (PHX) must be carefully designed as the fluid pressures in the TES and the power cycle are namely 1 - 10 bar and 200 - 250 bar.
The present work consists of two parts, one elaborates a 1D model in order to design the PCHE regarding a certain set of boundary conditions. The model requires heat transfer and pressure loss correlations from the literature to estimate the Nusselt number and friction factor, which strongly depends on the geometry. It was found that the zigzag channel design intensifies both heat transfer and pressure drop phenomena, which is not suitable for the hot fluid from an economic prospective. Furthermore, 3D simulations by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) were done and compared to the results from the 1D model to ensure the validity of the correlations. It was also found that the results match those from the literature, thus validating the 1D model.