Brayton Cycle

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Thermodynamic cycles
Atkinson cycle Brayton/Joule cycle Carnot cycle Combined cycle Diesel cycle Ericsson cycle Hirn cycle Kalina cycle Lenoir Cycle Linde-Hampson cycle Miller cycle Mixed/Dual Cycle Otto cycle Rankine cycle Scuderi cycle Stirling cycle
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The "Brayton cycle" is a constant pressure cycle named after George Brayton (1830-1892), the American engineer who developed it. In 1872 Brayton filed a patent for his "Ready Motor"; unlike the Otto or Diesel cycles Brayton's engine used a separate compressor and expansion cylinder. Today the Brayton cycle is a cyclic process generally associated with the gas turbine. Like other internal combustion power cycles it is an open system, though for thermodynamic analysis it is a convenient fiction to assume that the exhaust gases are reused in the intake, enabling analysis as a closed system. It is also sometimes known as the Joule cycle.

Model

A Brayton-type engine consists of three components:

A gas compressor
A mixing chamber
An expander

In the original 19th-century Brayton engine, ambient air is drawn into a piston compressor, where it is compressed; ideally an isentropic process. The compressed air then runs through a mixing chamber where fuel is added, a constant-pressure (isobaric) process. The heated, pressurized air and fuel mixture is then ignited in an expansion cylinder and energy is released, causing the heated air and combustion products to expand through a piston/cylinder; another theoretically isentropic process. Some of the work extracted by the piston/cylinder is used to drive the compressor through a crankshaft arrangement. http://www.todayinsci.com/B/Brayton_George/BraytonGeorgeEngine2.htm

The term Brayton cycle has more recently been given to the gas turbine engine. This also has three components:

A gas compressor
A burner (or combustion chamber)
An expansion turbine

Ambient air is drawn into the compressor, where it is pressurized—a theoretically isentropic process. The compressed air then runs through a combustion chamber, where fuel is burned, heating that air—a constant-pressure process, since the chamber is open to flow in and out. The heated, pressurized air then gives up its energy, expanding through a turbine (or series of turbines)—another theoretically isentropic process. Some of the work extracted by the turbine is used to drive the compressor.

Since neither the compression nor the expansion can be truly isentropic, losses through the compressor and the expander represent sources of inescapable working inefficiencies.

In general, increasing the compression ratio is the most direct way to increase the overall power output of a Brayton system.

Reference: Lester C. Lichty, Combustion Engine Processes, 1967, McGraw-Hill, Inc., Lib.of Congress 67-10876

Applications

The efficiency of a Brayton engine can be improved in the following manners:

Reheat, wherein the working fluid—in most cases air—expands through a series of turbines, then is passed through a second combustion chamber before expanding to ambient pressure through a final set of turbines. This has the advantage of increasing the power output possible for a given compression ratio without exceeding any metallurgical constraints. (Although use of an afterburner can also be referred to as reheat, it is a different process that increases power while markedly decreasing efficiency.)

Intercooling, wherein the working fluid passes through a first stage of compressors, then a cooler, then a second stage of compressors before entering the combustion chamber. While this requires an increase in the fuel consumption of the combustion chamber, this allows for a reduction in the specific heat of the fluid entering the second stage of compressors, with an attendant decrease in the amount of work needed for the compression stage overall.

Regeneration, wherein the still-warm post-turbine fluid is passed through a heat exchanger to pre-heat the fluid just entering the combustion chamber. This allows for lower fuel consumption and less power lost as waste heat.

A Brayton engine also forms half of the combined cycle system, which combines with a rankine engine to further increase overall efficiency.

Cogeneration systems make use of the waste heat from Brayton engines, typically for hot water production or space heating.

Brayton Cycle

Model

Applications

See also