A new power-generating system that works like a jet engine

For a few hours on April 12, engineers at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico were able to send electrons back to the Sandia-Kirtland Air Force Base electrical grid using a new type of power generation system. This little proof-of-concept, announced earlier this month, showed the team that their system—with which they’ve been tinkering with since 2007—was stable, controllable and able to sync well with the electrical grid.

The new system, which the team sees as more efficient than existing power-generating systems, is based on a described thermodynamics process via a closed-loop Breton cycle, and works similarly to a jet engine. Most jet engines are powered by an open Breton wheel. Ambient air is brought in and compressed. Then, it is heated with fuel and expanded by means of a turbine. That turbine can then mechanically operate a generator to generate electricity (if you’re grounded), or thrust (if you’re on a plane)“In years past, we just made electricity, and put it into resistive load banks. It’s like a giant toaster oven, it turns electricity into heat,” said mechanical engineer at Sandia National Laboratories who worked on the project Darrin Fleming says. “Being able to put electricity back on the grid was the main result of this program.”

So what engine operation do the Breton cycles describe? “Imagine you take a pipe and you connect [gas] The turbine discharges back with the compressor, and you just keep the working fluid in a loop. It is a closed Breton cycle,” says Sandia mechanical engineer Logan Rapp, who was part of the test. “It has the same compressor, turbine, and heat exchange, but the working fluid is always inside the pipe.”

BY- BUSINESS NEWS 

BLOG BY- TANISHQ DESHMUKH

21 August 2022