Issue |
EPL
Volume 97, Number 1, February 2012
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | 10004 | |
Number of page(s) | 6 | |
Section | General | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/97/10004 | |
Published online | 03 January 2012 |
Efficiency at maximum power of minimally nonlinear irreversible heat engines
Division of Physics, Hokkaido University - Sapporo, 060-0810, Japan
Received:
28
September
2011
Accepted:
18
November
2011
We propose the minimally nonlinear irreversible heat engine as a new general theoretical model to study the efficiency at the maximum power η* of heat engines operating between the hot heat reservoir at the temperature Th and the cold one at Tc (Tc≤Th). Our model is based on the extended Onsager relations with a new nonlinear term meaning the power dissipation. In this model, we show that η* is bounded from the upper side by a function of the Carnot efficiency ηC≡1−Tc/Th as η*≤ηC/(2−ηC). We demonstrate the validity of our theory by showing that the low-dissipation Carnot engine can easily be described by our theory.
PACS: 05.70.Ln – Nonequilibrium and irreversible thermodynamics
© EPLA, 2012
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.