Design, Flow Simulation, and Performance Test for a Partial-Admission Axial Turbine Under Supercritical CO2 Condition

The development of a 60-kWe turbo generator that uses supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) cycle technology at the lab scale is described herein. The design concept for the turbo generator involved using commercially available components to reduce the developmental time and to increase the reliability of the machine. The developed supercritical partial-admission CO2 turbine has a single-stage axial-type design with a 73-mm rotor mean diameter. The design of the sCO2 turbine uses impulse and partial admission to reduce the axial force and rotational speed. We simulated the flow of the designed sCO2 turbine. To increase the simulation accuracy, a real gas property table is coupled with the flow solver. The turbine performance test apparatus and test results are described; then, the turbine is continuously operated for 44 min. The maximum turbine power is 25.4 kW, and the maximum electric power is 10.3 kWe.