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The Supercritical carbon dioxide (S–CO 2) Brayton cycle is considered as a promising alternative to traditional steam Rankine cycle due to its high efficiency and compactness. However, in coal-fired power system, the S–CO 2 temperature at cooling wall entrance is newly recognized quite high, leading to an over-temperature crisis. A coupled model of combustion and S–CO 2 heat transfer was established to predict cooling wall temperature of a 1000 MW S–CO 2 Brayton coal-fired boiler. Based on the module arrangement in S–CO 2 boiler, the "cold S–CO 2 -hot fire matching and cascaded temperature control" principle in 1D model was proposed to reduce the cooling wall temperature. Three methods were examined including the low-temperature fluid matching high heat flux burner region, the counterflow, and more cold fluid in circulation drained to match high heat flux zone. The results show that the optimal arrangement can significantly reduce the temperature in overheated region 12–44 °C and eliminate the local hot spot. In addition, the 3D model was developed to obtain the maximum wall temperature and the uneven temperature in the circumferential direction. The employment of spiral cooling wall could alleviate circumferential unevenness and reduce wall temperature. The present work can provide important guidance to design of S–CO 2 Brayton coal-fired power system. • A coupled model of combustion and S–CO 2 heat transfer was established to predict cooling wall temperature. • The "cold S–CO 2 -hot fire matching and cascaded temperature control" principle in 1D model was proposed. • The uneven temperature distribution in circumferential direction of cooling wall in 3D model was calculated. • The spiral tubes of cooling wall could effectively relieve uneven problem and reduce wall temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supercritical carbon dioxide (S–CO 2) coal-fired power systems have been widely investigated due to its high efficiency and compactness. These power systems can range between 50 and 1000 MW and thus the corresponding boilers actually operate under dramatically different conditions. It is necessary to investigate the inherent relationship among different capacity S–CO 2 boilers, which not only bring new theoretical understandings but also help improve practical designs. In this work, a unified model is proposed to investigate both thermal-hydraulic and thermodynamic performance. Furthermore, it is applied to evaluate the relationship between power capacity and boiler configuration. It is shown that small capacity furnaces suffer from overheating in the furnace wall and the optimized cooling wall is suggested to tackle this issue. Moreover, it is found that high pressure drop in the cooling wall of large capacity furnaces results in significant penalty on the cycle efficiency. For the popular 1000 MW boiler, an optimized configuration is suggested by moving the second reheating into the horizontal flue of boiler, achieving a lower pressure drop and an improved cycle efficiency from 35.4% to 50.09%. Finally, three recommendations for the capacity-dependent configurations are presented. • A unified model for different capacity S–CO2 coal-fired boilers is established. • Overheating of cooling wall in boilers of small capacity is illustrated and an optimization is proposed. • Pressure drop penalty worsens in cooling wall of large capacity furnaces and results in a cycle efficiency reduction. • Three recommendations for the capacity-dependent configurations are demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]