MEMORANDUM

Date: December 3, 2023

To: Dr. Jason Trembly
From: Brian Johnson (P100921862)
Subject: ABET Assignment Brayton Cycle Design
Executive Summary: The purpose of this assignment was to design a Brayton Cycle with
intercooling, reheating, and regeneration that minimized the Levelized Cost of Electricity
(LCOE) based on the regenerator effectiveness. Design of this Brayton Cycle was achieved
using the Engineering Equation Solver (EES) software package. Students were assigned values
to be used for the overall heat transfer coefficient (U) of the regenerator as well as for the cost of
fuel. For this report, the values given were U = 8 W/m^2 and cost of fuel = $6/MMBtu. Based
on these values and the design constraints provided by Dr. Trembly, the following results were
found: the minimum LCOE was $104.8/MWh, and this LCOE was achieved at a regenerator
effectiveness of 92.38%.
Analysis: The design performed for this assignment was built upon a Brayton Cycle design
completed earlier in the semester. Three major changes were made to this design: first was that
the net work output of the cycle needed to be 30 MW, second was that the regenerator was now
analyzed as a counter-flow heat exchanged, and third was the inclusion of the LCOE analysis.
The equations below were used to perform the design of this Brayton Cycle.
hout , s−h¿ h¿ −hout h5−h4
η comp= ; ηturb = ; ηregen = ; Ẇ comp=ṁ ( h out −h¿ ) ;
hout −h¿ h¿−hout , s h9−h4
Ẇ turb =ṁ ( h¿ −hout ) ; Ẇ net=Ẇ turb−Ẇ comp ; Q̇net ,∈¿=ṁ ( (h −h )+( h −h ))¿
6 5 8 7

Ẇ net
ηth =
Δ T A −Δ T B
Q̇net ,∈ ¿ ; Δ T LM = ; Δ T A=T 9−T 5 ; Δ T B =T 10−T 4 ; Q̇regen =UA Δ T LM ¿
ΔT A
ln ⁡( )
ΔTB

( )
0.6

( )
SB I 0.88
Q̇regen =ṁ ( h5−h4 ) =ṁ ( h9−h 10) ; C B=C A ; C=C o ; C regen =49.45 U A
SA Io

r∗PV APR 12 P
PV =C +Cregen ; P= ; r= ;CoC =
1−( 1+r )
−n
12 hr d
30 MW∗24 ∗365.25 ∗CF
d yr
C labor=0.04∗CoC ; C maintenance =0.03∗CoC ; C taxes=0.06∗CoC
 $6
MMBtu
∗Q̇ s h d
kJ net ,∈¿∗3600 ∗24 ∗365.25
1055055 .85 h d yr
MMBtu Q̇net ,∈ ¿
C fuel = ; ṁfuel = ¿¿
h d LH V CH 4
30 MW∗24 ∗365.25 ∗CF
d yr
ton s h d $
ṁfuel∗0.001102 ∗3600 ∗24 ∗365.25 ∗60
kg h d yr ¿ nCO2
C emissions =
h d
30 MW∗24 ∗365.25 ∗CF
d yr
LCOE=CoC +C labor +C maintenance +C taxes+C fuel +C emissions
Results and Discussion:
Methods
EES was used to solve for any thermodynamic values required for the calculations in this
assignment. Isentropic efficiencies were used to analyze the compressors and turbines in the
Brayton Cycle, and the equations for these isentropic efficiencies were used to solve for the
actual enthalpies of the relevant points in the cycle. To accomplish the minimization of the
LCOE, the value for regenerator effectiveness was commented out, and the built-in min/max
EES function was used to minimize LCOE based on regenerator effectiveness. To ensure
accuracy of the min/max function, regenerator effectiveness was given a lower bound of 0.8 and
an upper bound of 0.99. The Quadratic Approximations method was used with a maximum of
400 iterations allowed.
Evaluation
The result of the min/max function with the described parameters was an LCOE of $104.8/MWh,
and this LCOE was associated with a regenerator effectiveness of 92.38%. Rounding errors have
likely occurred because of the way that EES functions, but these errors should be negligible.
Figure 1 shows a screenshot of the values for each variable used in the EES code after the
min/max function has been used.
Figure 1: Min/max Function Results

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The value of $104.8/MWh is within the expected range of $90-$110/MWh. Although this value
is towards the higher end of this range, the fuel cost used for this assignment was the highest fuel
cost assigned to any group of students, so it is reasonable to expect that the LCOE will be
towards the higher end of the acceptable range. The value of the regenerator area seemed
unreasonably high upon initial inspection, but since this design is for a large-scale power
generation facility, it is likely that all parts required will be very large.
Recommendations:
The results of this design suggest that a regenerator allowing this plant to meet all the
requirements at a minimized cost would have an area of roughly 120738 m2 and run at an
effectiveness of around 92.38%. This is only a preliminary design, so the actual costs and results
given by the cycle will vary. However, this report should provide helpful insight into the
required features of the Brayton Cycle.
References:
Qiao, H., Correction of Log Mean Temperature Difference Method and Effectiveness-NTU
Relations for Two-phase Heat Transfer with Pressure Drop and Temperature Glide, (2018).
International Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Conference. Paper 1923.
https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/iracc/1923

Y. A. Çengel, M. A. Boles, and M. Kanoğlu, Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach, 9th

ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education, 2019.

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Attachments:
Attachment 1: Formatted EES Equations

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