In numerous widely used application (such as micro gas turbines, fuel cells and internal combustion engines) significant amount of thermal energy is expelled with hot waste gas. The inverted Brayton bottoming cycle (IBC) offers a way to utilize this expelled heat and boost the overall thermodynamic performance of the system. It makes use of high temperature exhaust gas in near-atmospheric conditions by expansion into vacuum. This avoids issues of backpressure and increases the potential energy recovery from exhaust heat. Our research project focuses on the design, development and validation of the IBC system concept in application-relevant conditions with the ultimate goal of assessing the actual impact on the system performance.
