Research on concentrated solar power (CSP) plants has been increasing in recent years.\nSupercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) has been applied to solar power plants due to its promising\nphysical properties. S-CO2 has a relatively low critical temperature of 31.1 Degree centigrade and owns high density\nin the supercritical region. Hence, it is a vital working fluid in the application of low temperature\nheat source and miniature power equipment. Due to the fact that solar power system has a constantly\nchanging heat source according to season and weather, a satisfactory off-design performance is\nnecessary for the turbine in a solar power system. In this work, a S-CO2 radial-inflow turbine based\non CSP is designed. A thorough numerical analysis of the turbine is then performed. To investigate\nthe off-design performance of this turbine, three types of nozzle profiles with different leading edge\ndiameters are adopted. Mach number, temperature and pressure distribution are covered to present\nthe off-design effect with different nozzle profiles. Moreover, the relation of output power, mass flow\nrate and efficiency with different leading edge diameter (LED) are analyzed. Results show that\ndifferent LED has a vital influence on the aerodynamic characteristics and off-design performance of\nthe S-CO2 turbine based on CSP. In addition, the designed turbine with LED = 4 mm can obtain the\nhighest mass flow rate and output power. While the turbine with LED = 10 mm provides slightly\nbetter off-design efficiency for CSP plants.
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