An assessment of the Brayton cycle for high performance power plants

The He Brayton cycle appears to be the best near-term power conversion meth od for maximizing the economic potential of fusion. Key factors affecting t he Brayton cycle efficiency includes the turbine inlet temperature, compres sor and turbine adiabatic efficiencies, recuperator effectiveness and cycle fractional pressure loss. The compression ratio is also important because for fusion conditions, structural and turbomachinery limitations often prev ent use of an optimum value. This paper examines in detail these parameters and proposes near-term values for fusion power plant studies based on exis ting products and test results, current knowledge, and, if justified, reaso nable extrapolation.