Techniques for Improving Brayton Cycles

Ch 9, Lesson F, Page 1 - Techniques for Improving Brayton Cycles

• In this lesson, we will discuss the most common methods that are used to improve the efficiency of the ideal Brayton Cycle.
• Regeneration is the key method because reheat and intercooling do not improve the thermal efficiency of the cycle unless they are combined with regeneration.
• That is why the 4th method on our list is the combination of reheating and intercooling with regeneration.
• You may wonder why anyone would build an ordinary Brayton Cycle if we already know how it can be improved.
• Well, each of the improvements we will discuss increases the initial cost of building the equipment and also increases the maintenance costs for the cycle.
• So, the decision about exactly what power cycle to build depends on economics as much as it depends on engineering.
• You will learn more about engineering economics later in your education.
• The other thing that I would like you to keep in mind throughout this lesson is that we are only considering ideal cycles.
• We will not consider the effects of friction and other irreversibilities on the performance of the Brayton Cycle or any of the improved versions of the Brayton Cycle.
• OK.  Let’s begin with regeneration.