scholarly journals Modeling and Performance Optimization of an Irreversible Two-Stage Combined Thermal Brownian Heat Engine

Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 419
Author(s):  
Congzheng Qi ◽  
Zemin Ding ◽  
Lingen Chen ◽  
Yanlin Ge ◽  
Huijun Feng
Keyword(s):  
Power Output ◽  
Performance Optimization ◽  
External Load ◽  
Thermal Contact ◽  
Heat Engine ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Load Effect ◽  
Heat Engines ◽  
Heat Leakage ◽  
Steady Current

Based on finite time thermodynamics, an irreversible combined thermal Brownian heat engine model is established in this paper. The model consists of two thermal Brownian heat engines which are operating in tandem with thermal contact with three heat reservoirs. The rates of heat transfer are finite between the heat engine and the reservoir. Considering the heat leakage and the losses caused by kinetic energy change of particles, the formulas of steady current, power output and efficiency are derived. The power output and efficiency of combined heat engine are smaller than that of single heat engine operating between reservoirs with same temperatures. When the potential filed is free from external load, the effects of asymmetry of the potential, barrier height and heat leakage on the performance of the combined heat engine are analyzed. When the potential field is free from external load, the effects of basic design parameters on the performance of the combined heat engine are analyzed. The optimal power and efficiency are obtained by optimizing the barrier heights of two heat engines. The optimal working regions are obtained. There is optimal temperature ratio which maximize the overall power output or efficiency. When the potential filed is subjected to external load, effect of external load is analyzed. The steady current decreases versus external load; the power output and efficiency are monotonically increasing versus external load.

Performance Optimization and Parametric Analysis of a Class of Solar-Driven Heat Engines

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Houcheng Zhang ◽  
Lanmei Wu ◽  
Guoxing Lin
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Loss ◽  
Performance Optimization ◽  
Solar Collector ◽  
Heat Engine ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Convection Heat ◽  
Combined System ◽  
Heat Engines ◽  
Internal Irreversibility

A class of solar-driven heat engines is modeled as a combined system consisting of a solar collector and a unified heat engine, in which muti-irreversibilities including not only the finite rate heat transfer and the internal irreversibility, but also radiation-convection heat loss from the solar collector to the ambience are taken into account. The maximum overall efficiency of the system, the optimal operating temperature of the solar collector, the optimal temperatures of the working fluid and the optimal ratio of heat transfer areas are calculated by using numerical calculation method. The influences of radiation-convection heat loss of the collector and internal irreversibility on the cyclic performances of the solar-driven heat engine system are revealed. The results obtained in the present paper are more general than those in literature and the performance characteristics of several solar-driven heat engines such as Carnot, Brayton, Braysson and so on can be directly derived from them.

Modeling of a New Crank-Less Rotary Heat Engine Concept for Solar Power Utilization

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad I. Rashad ◽  
Hend A. Faiad ◽  
Mahmoud Elzouka
Keyword(s):  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Unit Cost ◽  
Heat Engine ◽  
Structure Design ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Heat Engines ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Engine Concept

This paper presents the operating principle of a novel solar rotary crank-less heat engine. The proposed engine concept uses air as working fluid. The reciprocating motion is converted to a rotary motion by the mean of unbalanced mass and Coriolis effect, instead of a crank shaft. This facilitates the engine scaling and provides several degrees of freedom in terms of structure design and configuration. Unlike classical heat engines (i.e. Stirling), the proposed engine can be fixed to the ground which significantly reduce the generation unit cost. Firstly, the engine’s configuration is illustrated. Then, order analysis for the engine is carried out. The combined dynamics and thermal model is developed using ordinary differential equations which are then numerically solved by Simulink™. The resulting engine thermodynamics cycle is described. It incorporates the common thermodynamics processes (isobaric, isothermal, isochoric processes). Finally, the system behavior and performance are analyzed along with studying the effect of various design parameters on operating conditions such as engine speed, output power and efficiency.

scholarly journals Quantum Photovoltaic Cells Driven by Photon Pulses

Entropy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 693
Author(s):  
Sangchul Oh ◽  
Jung Jun Park ◽  
Hyunchul Nha
Keyword(s):  
External Load ◽  
Power Efficiency ◽  
Thermal Contact ◽  
Heat Engine ◽  
Input Power ◽  
Thermodynamic Quantities ◽  
Level System ◽  
Cold Bath ◽  
Quantum Heat Engine ◽  
Photon Pulse

We investigate the quantum thermodynamics of two quantum systems, a two-level system and a four-level quantum photocell, each driven by photon pulses as a quantum heat engine. We set these systems to be in thermal contact only with a cold reservoir while the heat (energy) source, conventionally given from a hot thermal reservoir, is supplied by a sequence of photon pulses. The dynamics of each system is governed by a coherent interaction due to photon pulses in terms of the Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian together with the system-bath interaction described by the Lindblad master equation. We calculate the thermodynamic quantities for the two-level system and the quantum photocell including the change in system energy, the power delivered by photon pulses, the power output to an external load, the heat dissipated to a cold bath, and the entropy production. We thereby demonstrate how a quantum photocell in the cold bath can operate as a continuum quantum heat engine with a sequence of photon pulses continuously applied. We specifically introduce the power efficiency of the quantum photocell in terms of the ratio of output power delivered to an external load with current and voltage to the input power delivered by the photon pulse. Our study indicates a possibility that a quantum system driven by external fields can act as an efficient quantum heat engine under non-equilibrium thermodynamics.

The Regenerative Criteria of an Irreversible Brayton Heat Engine and its General Optimum Performance Characteristics

2005 ◽  
Vol 128 (3) ◽  
pp. 216-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Zhang ◽  
Congjie Ou ◽  
Bihong Lin ◽  
Jincan Chen
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Power Output ◽  
Pressure Ratio ◽  
Heat Engine ◽  
Optimal Performance ◽  
Performance Characteristics ◽  
Heat Transfer Area ◽  
Total Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Engines ◽  
Compression And Expansion

An irreversible cycle model of the Brayton heat engine is established, in which the irreversibilities resulting from the internal dissipation of the working substance in the adiabatic compression and expansion processes and the finite-rate heat transfer in the regenerative and constant-pressure processes are taken into account. The power output and efficiency of the cycle are expressed as functions of temperatures of the working substance and the heat sources, heat transfer coefficients, pressure ratio, regenerator effectiveness, and total heat transfer area including the heat transfer areas of the regenerator and other heat exchangers. The regenerative criteria are given. The power output is optimized for a given efficiency. The general optimal performance characteristics of the cycle are revealed. The optimal performance of the Brayton heat engines with and without regeneration is compared quantitatively. The advantages of using the regenerator are expounded. Some important parameters of an irreversible regenerative Brayton heat engine, such as the temperatures of the working substance at different states, pressure ratio, maximum value of the pressure ratio, regenerator effectiveness and ratios of the various heat transfer areas to the total heat transfer area of the cycle, are further optimized. The optimal relations between these parameters and the efficiency of the cycle are presented by a set of characteristic curves for some assumed compression and expansion efficiencies. The results obtained may be helpful to the comprehensive understanding of the optimal performance of the Brayton heat engines with and without regeneration and play a theoretical instructive role for the optimal design of a regenerative Brayton heat engine.

scholarly journals Performance optimization of an air-breathing PEM fuel cell

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-298
Author(s):  
Levent Akyalçın
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Power Density ◽  
Power Output ◽  
Performance Optimization ◽  
Current Collector ◽  
Maximum Power ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Membrane Electrode ◽  
Maximum Power Density ◽  
Cathode Current

In this study, Taguchi?s experimental design is used to determine the optimum component combination of a membrane electrode assembly and cathode current collector opening geometry to obtain maximum power density of an airbreathing polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell at 0.5 V. An analysis of variance was conducted to figure out the optimum levels and significant differences of the effect of the combinations, followed by a performance measurement analysis. Experimental investigations of the effecting parameters enabled the determination of the optimum configuration of the MEA and cathode current collector opening geometry design parameters for maximum power density at a certain cell potential. Effective parameters which enable withdrawal of a maximum power output from an ABPEMFC at 0.5 V are, in order of effectiveness: the amount of platinum on the cathode, the thickness of the Nafion membrane, the cathode current collector opening geometry, and the amount of platinum on the anode. Optimum component combinations are: 0.45 mgPt cm?2 for the platinum loading on the cathode, Nafion 112 for membrane, a vertical cathode opening geometry and 1.78 mg cm?2 for the amount of platinum on the anode. For these component combinations, a 98.5 mW cm?2 power output was obtained from an ABPEMFC at 0.5 V cell voltage.

Power and efficiency optimization for combined Brayton and two parallel inverse Brayton cycles. Part 2: Performance optimization

2008 ◽  
Vol 222 (3) ◽  
pp. 405-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
W Zhang ◽  
L Chen ◽  
F Sun
Keyword(s):  
Conversion Efficiency ◽  
Power Output ◽  
Performance Optimization ◽  
Pressure Ratio ◽  
Thermal Conversion ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Flow Area ◽  
Compressor Inlet ◽  
Mass Flowrate ◽  
Top Cycle

The power and efficiency of the open combined Brayton and two parallel inverse Brayton cycles are analysed and optimized based on the model established using finite-time thermodynamics in Part 1 of the current paper by adjusting the compressor inlet pressure of the two parallel inverse Brayton cycles, the mass flowrate and the distribution of pressure losses along the flow path. It is shown that the power output has a maximum with respect to the compressor inlet pressures of the two parallel inverse Brayton cycles, the air mass flowrate or any of the overall pressure drops, and the maximized power output has an additional maximum with respect to the compressor pressure ratio of the top cycle. The power output and the thermal conversion efficiency have the maximum values when the mass flowrates of the first and the second inverse Brayton cycles are the same. When the optimization is performed with the constraints of a fixed fuel flowrate and the power plant size, the power output and thermal conversion efficiency can be maximized again by properly allocating the fixed overall flow area among the compressor inlet of the top cycle and the turbine outlets of the two parallel inverse Brayton cycles. The numerical examples show the effects of design parameters on the power output and heat conversion efficiency.

scholarly journals A quantum heat engine driven by atomic collisions

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Quentin Bouton ◽  
Jens Nettersheim ◽  
Sabrina Burgardt ◽  
Daniel Adam ◽  
Eric Lutz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Power Output ◽  
Quantum Control ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Spin Exchange ◽  
Thermal Contact ◽  
Heat Engine ◽  
Discrete Energy ◽  
Large Power ◽  
Quantum Heat Engine ◽  
Output Fluctuations

AbstractQuantum heat engines are subjected to quantum fluctuations related to their discrete energy spectra. Such fluctuations question the reliable operation of thermal machines in the quantum regime. Here, we realize an endoreversible quantum Otto cycle in the large quasi-spin states of Cesium impurities immersed in an ultracold Rubidium bath. Endoreversible machines are internally reversible and irreversible losses only occur via thermal contact. We employ quantum control to regulate the direction of heat transfer that occurs via inelastic spin-exchange collisions. We further use full-counting statistics of individual atoms to monitor quantized heat exchange between engine and bath at the level of single quanta, and additionally evaluate average and variance of the power output. We optimize the performance as well as the stability of the quantum heat engine, achieving high efficiency, large power output and small power output fluctuations.

scholarly journals Learning the best nanoscale heat engines through evolving network topology

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuto Ashida ◽  
Takahiro Sagawa
Keyword(s):  
Network Topology ◽  
Heat Engine ◽  
Search Space ◽  
Single Electron ◽  
Thermodynamic Efficiency ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Thermal Systems ◽  
Nanoscale Systems ◽  
Heat Engines ◽  
Many Body Interactions

AbstractThe quest to identify the best heat engine has been at the center of science and technology. Considerable studies have so far revealed the potentials of nanoscale thermal machines to yield an enhanced thermodynamic efficiency in noninteracting regimes. However, the full benefit of many-body interactions is yet to be investigated; identifying the optimal interaction is a hard problem due to combinatorial explosion of the search space, which makes brute-force searches infeasible. We tackle this problem with developing a framework for reinforcement learning of network topology in interacting thermal systems. We find that the maximum possible values of the figure of merit and the power factor can be significantly enhanced by electron-electron interactions under nondegenerate single-electron levels with which, in the absence of interactions, the thermoelectric performance is quite low in general. This allows for an alternative strategy to design the best heat engines by optimizing interactions instead of single-electron levels. The versatility of the developed framework allows one to identify full potential of a broad range of nanoscale systems in terms of multiple objectives.

scholarly journals Performance Analysis and Optimization for Irreversible Combined Carnot Heat Engine Working with Ideal Quantum Gases

Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 536
Author(s):  
Lingen Chen ◽  
Zewei Meng ◽  
Yanlin Ge ◽  
Feng Wu
Keyword(s):  
Power Output ◽  
Thermal Efficiency ◽  
Combined Cycle ◽  
Quantum Gases ◽  
Carnot Cycle ◽  
Leakage Loss ◽  
Optimal Power ◽  
Heat Leakage ◽  
Working Medium ◽  
Ideal Quantum

An irreversible combined Carnot cycle model using ideal quantum gases as a working medium was studied by using finite-time thermodynamics. The combined cycle consisted of two Carnot sub-cycles in a cascade mode. Considering thermal resistance, internal irreversibility, and heat leakage losses, the power output and thermal efficiency of the irreversible combined Carnot cycle were derived by utilizing the quantum gas state equation. The temperature effect of the working medium on power output and thermal efficiency is analyzed by numerical method, the optimal relationship between power output and thermal efficiency is solved by the Euler-Lagrange equation, and the effects of different working mediums on the optimal power and thermal efficiency performance are also focused. The results show that there is a set of working medium temperatures that makes the power output of the combined cycle be maximum. When there is no heat leakage loss in the combined cycle, all the characteristic curves of optimal power versus thermal efficiency are parabolic-like ones, and the internal irreversibility makes both power output and efficiency decrease. When there is heat leakage loss in the combined cycle, all the characteristic curves of optimal power versus thermal efficiency are loop-shaped ones, and the heat leakage loss only affects the thermal efficiency of the combined Carnot cycle. Comparing the power output of combined heat engines with four types of working mediums, the two-stage combined Carnot cycle using ideal Fermi-Bose gas as working medium obtains the highest power output.

scholarly journals Action and Entropy in Heat Engines: An Action Revision of the Carnot Cycle

Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
pp. 860
Author(s):  
Ivan R. Kennedy ◽  
Migdat Hodzic
Keyword(s):  
Heat Engine ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Field Energy ◽  
Carnot Cycle ◽  
Gibbs Potential ◽  
Atmospheric Gases ◽  
Temperature Dependent ◽  
Expansion Phase ◽  
Heat Engines ◽  
The Difference

Despite the remarkable success of Carnot’s heat engine cycle in founding the discipline of thermodynamics two centuries ago, false viewpoints of his use of the caloric theory in the cycle linger, limiting his legacy. An action revision of the Carnot cycle can correct this, showing that the heat flow powering external mechanical work is compensated internally with configurational changes in the thermodynamic or Gibbs potential of the working fluid, differing in each stage of the cycle quantified by Carnot as caloric. Action (@) is a property of state having the same physical dimensions as angular momentum (mrv = mr2ω). However, this property is scalar rather than vectorial, including a dimensionless phase angle (@ = mr2ωδφ). We have recently confirmed with atmospheric gases that their entropy is a logarithmic function of the relative vibrational, rotational, and translational action ratios with Planck’s quantum of action ħ. The Carnot principle shows that the maximum rate of work (puissance motrice) possible from the reversible cycle is controlled by the difference in temperature of the hot source and the cold sink: the colder the better. This temperature difference between the source and the sink also controls the isothermal variations of the Gibbs potential of the working fluid, which Carnot identified as reversible temperature-dependent but unequal caloric exchanges. Importantly, the engine’s inertia ensures that heat from work performed adiabatically in the expansion phase is all restored to the working fluid during the adiabatic recompression, less the net work performed. This allows both the energy and the thermodynamic potential to return to the same values at the beginning of each cycle, which is a point strongly emphasized by Carnot. Our action revision equates Carnot’s calorique, or the non-sensible heat later described by Clausius as ‘work-heat’, exclusively to negative Gibbs energy (−G) or quantum field energy. This action field complements the sensible energy or vis-viva heat as molecular kinetic motion, and its recognition should have significance for designing more efficient heat engines or better understanding of the heat engine powering the Earth’s climates.

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