Thermal heat engine

Fuel cells, which rely on electrochemical generation of electric power, could be used for nonpolluting sources of power for motor vehicles. Since fuel cells are not heat engines, they offer the potential for extremely low emissions with a higher thermal effidency than internal combustion engines. Their lack of adoption by mobile systems has been due to their cost, large size, weight, lack of operational flexibility, and poor transient response. It has been stated that these problems could keep fuel cells from the mass-produced automobile market until after the year 2010 (5). 

The second law of thermodynamics may be used to show that a cyclic heat power plant (or cyclic heat engine) achieves maximum efficiency by operating on a reversible cycle called the Carnot cycle for a given (maximum) temperature of supply (T ax) and given (minimum) temperature of heat rejection (T jn). Such a Carnot power plant receives all its heat (Qq) at the maximum temperature (i.e. Tq = and rejects all its heat (Q ) at the minimum temperature (i.e. 7 = 7, in) the other processes are reversible and adiabatic and therefore isentropic (see the temperature-entropy diagram of Fig. 1.8). Its thermal efficiency is... 

The purpose of a heat engine is to remove heat Q, from a thermal reservoir at a higher absolute temperature T, extract useful work W and reject heat to a second thermal reservoir at a lower absolute temperature T. The device used to obtain the useful work is the heat engine. 

Although fuel cells are not heat engines, heat is still produced and must be removed in a fuel cell power system. Depending upon the size of the system, the temperature of the available heat, and the requirements of the particular site, this thermal energy can be either rejected, used to produce steam or hot water, or converted to electricity via a gas turbine or steam bottoming cycle or some combination thereof... 

The measurement of performance for a heat engine is ealled the thermal efficiency, r]. The thermal efflcieney of a heat engine is defined as the ratio of the desirable net output work sought to the heat input of the engine = IT et/6inpuf... 

Considering the concepts of reversible processes, a reversible cycle can be carried out for given thermal reservoirs at temperatures and Tl. The Carnot heat engine cycle on a p-V diagram and a T-S diagram, as shown in Fig. 1.4 is composed of the following four reversible processes ... 

If the Carnot cycle for a heat engine is carried out in the reverse direction, the result will be either a Carnot heat pump or a Carnot refrigerator. Such a cycle is shown in Fig. 1.5. Using the same graphical explanation that was used in the Carnot heat engine, the heat added from the low-temperature reservoir at Tl is area 1-4-5-6-1 g4i is the amount of heat added to the Carnot cycle from a low-temperature thermal reservoir. 

The efficiency of the Carnot heat engine operating between a fixed high-temperature heat source thermal reservoir at Th and a fixed low-temperature heat sink thermal reservoir at Tl is irrespective of the working substance. 

Incident solar energy is absorbed by the surface water of the oceans. Ocean surface temperatures in excess of 26°C occur near the equator. Pure water has a maximum density at a temperature of 4°C. The chilled water tends to settle to the depths of the ocean. The combination of the warmed ocean surface water and cold deep ocean water provides the thermodynamic condition needed to operate a heat engine called ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC). A typical closed-cycle OTEC Rankine cycle using a working fluid such as ammonia or a freon is suggested. 

The abundance of incident solar energy, particularly in large desert regions with few interruptions due to cloud cover, lends to the appeal of solar heat engines. Electrical power produced via thermal conversion of solar energy by means of a conventional Rankine cycle is technically achievable. 

The Carnot cycle is not a practical model for vapor power cycles because of cavitation and corrosion problems. The modified Carnot model for vapor power cycles is the basic Rankine cycle, which consists of two isobaric and two isentropic processes. The basic elements of the basic Rankine cycle are pump, boiler, turbine, and condenser. The Rankine cycle is the most popular heat engine to produce commercial power. The thermal cycle efficiency of the basic Rankine cycle can be improved by adding a superheater, regenerating, and reheater, among other means. 

A hypothetical cycle for achieving reversible work, typically consisting of a sequence of operations (1) isothermal expansion of an ideal gas at a temperature T2 (2) adiabatic expansion from T2 to Ti (3) isothermal compression at temperature Ti and (4) adiabatic compression from Ti to T2. This cycle represents the action of an ideal heat engine, one exhibiting maximum thermal efficiency. Inferences drawn from thermodynamic consideration of Carnot cycles have advanced our understanding about the thermodynamics of chemical systems. See Carnot s Theorem Efficiency Thermodynamics... 

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