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A Carnot cycle is an ideal thermodynamic cycle proposed by French physicist Sadi Carnot in 1824 and expanded upon by others in the 1830s and 1840s. By Carnot's theorem, it provides an upper limit on the efficiency of any classical thermodynamic engine during the conversion of heat into work, or conversely, the efficiency of a refrigeration system in creating a temperature difference through ...
Carnot's principle was recognized by Carnot at a time when the caloric theory represented the dominant understanding of the nature of heat, before the recognition of the first law of thermodynamics, and before the mathematical expression of the concept of entropy. Interpreted in the light of the first law, Carnot's analysis is physically ...
Q H = W + Q C = heat exchanged with the hot reservoir. η = W / (Q C + Q H) = thermal efficiency of the cycle If the cycle moves in a clockwise sense, then it is a heat engine that outputs work; if the cycle moves in a counterclockwise sense, it is a heat pump that takes in work and moves heat Q H from the cold reservoir to the hot reservoir.
The Carnot cycle is a cycle composed of the totally reversible processes of isentropic compression and expansion and isothermal heat addition and rejection. The thermal efficiency of a Carnot cycle depends only on the absolute temperatures of the two reservoirs in which heat transfer takes place, and for a power cycle is:
The word equilibrium implies a state of balance. Equilibrium thermodynamics, in origins, derives from analysis of the Carnot cycle. Here, typically a system, as cylinder of gas, initially in its own state of internal thermodynamic equilibrium, is set out of balance via heat input from a combustion reaction. Then, through a series of steps, as ...
The maximum efficiency (i.e., the Carnot heat engine efficiency) of a heat engine operating between hot and cold reservoirs, denoted as H and C respectively, is the ratio of the temperature difference between the reservoirs to the hot reservoir temperature, expressed in the equation
This standard value is usually used in the engine cycle equations below, and when this approximation is made the cycle is called an air-standard cycle. Otto cycle: automobiles The Otto cycle is the name for the cycle used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines such as gasoline and hydrogen fuelled automobile engines.
Nevertheless, the Carnot cycle demonstrates that the state of the surroundings may change in a reversible process as the system returns to its initial state. Reversible processes define the boundaries of how efficient heat engines can be in thermodynamics and engineering: a reversible process is one where the machine has maximum efficiency (see ...