A NOVEL HIGH-TEMPERATURE EJECTOR TOPPING POWER CYCLE

A novel, patented topping power cycle is described that rakes its ener gy from a very high-temperature heat source and in which the temperatu re of the heat sink is still high enough to operate another, conventio nal power cycle. The top temperature heat source is used to evaporate a low saturation pressure liquid, which serves as the driving fluid fo r compressing the secondary fluid in an ejector. Due to the inherently simple construction of ejectors, they are well suited for operation a t temperatures higher than those that can be used with gas turbines. T he gases exiting from the ejector transfer hear to the lower temperatu re cycle, and are separated by condensing the primary fluid. The secon dary gas is then used to drive a turbine. For a system using sodium as the primary fluid and helium as the secondary fluid, and using a bott oming Rankine steam cycle, the overall thermal efficiency can be at le ast II percent better than that of conventional steam Rankine cycles.