Ecological optimization for general heat engines

Rui Long and Wei Liu

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2015, vol. 434, issue C, 232-239

Abstract: We conducted an analysis of efficiency and its bounds for general heat engines under the maximum ecological criterion. For generality, both nonisothermal heat-exchanging processes and internal dissipation were taken into consideration. When the product of the internal dissipation and the heat capacity ratio is one, the efficiency under the maximum ecological criterion is the same as that of the irreversible Carnot model. However, the efficiencies have different physical meanings and optimization spaces. Furthermore, the efficiency is independent of the time it takes to complete each process and the heat conductance. For other situations, numerical calculations were conducted to investigate the parameters’ effects on optimal efficiency. When the dimensionless contact times approach zero, the irreversible Carnot model is recovered. The general upper and lower bounds of optimal efficiency are obtained by applying the asymmetric heat capacity ratio limits when the dimensionless contact times approach infinity. In addition, the efficiency of general endoreversible heat engines was investigated. The efficiency bounds of different real-life heat engines under the maximum ecological criterion are proposed.

Keywords: Heat engines; Nonisothermal processes; Internal dissipation; Ecological optimization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:434:y:2015:i:c:p:232-239

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2015.04.016

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