Heat pump integrated with a nuclear power plant
AssigneeGE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas LLC
InventorsGiridhar JOTHIPRASAD, Todd JANKOWSKI, Brian HUNT, Ya-Tien CHIU, Robert MARTIN, Ayesh SUDASINGHE
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An integrated nuclear-powered heat pump system includes a nuclear power plant including a nuclear reactor coolant and may be configured to generate electricity. The system additionally includes a heat pump including a refrigerant as a working fluid. The heat pump is integrated with the nuclear power plant so as to be in at least thermal contact with the nuclear reactor coolant. The electricity generated by the nuclear power plant may be used to drive the heat pump. The system is instrumental with regard to generating heat for industrial applications.
Claims20
An integrated nuclear-powered heat pump system, comprising:
- a nuclear power plant including a nuclear reactor coolant;
- and
- a heat pump including a refrigerant as a working fluid, the heat pump integrated with the nuclear power plant so as to be in at least thermal contact with the nuclear reactor coolant.
A method of generating heat for an industrial application, the method comprising:
- integrating a nuclear power plant with a heat pump, the nuclear power plant including a nuclear reactor coolant and configured to generate electricity, the heat pump including a refrigerant as a working fluid;
- leveraging a thermal energy of the nuclear reactor coolant from the nuclear power plant for the heat pump;
- performing a compression of the refrigerant in the heat pump using electricity generated by the nuclear power plant so as to achieve an increased desired temperature for the refrigerant;
- and
- heating a process fluid for the industrial application using the refrigerant with the increased desired temperature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.