A Classical Nernst Engine
Statistical Mechanics
2015-01-07 v1 Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Abstract
We introduce a simple model for an engine based on the Nernst effect. In the presence of a magnetic field, a vertical heat current can drive a horizontal particle current against a chemical potential. For a microscopic model invoking classical particle trajectories subject to the Lorentz force, we prove a universal bound 3-2*sqrt(2) simeq 0.172 for the ratio between maximum efficiency and Carnot efficiency. This bound, as the slightly lower one 1/6 for efficiency at maximum power, can indeed be saturated for large magnetic field and small fugacity irrespective of the aspect ratio.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1310.1195,
title = {A Classical Nernst Engine},
author = {Julian Stark and Kay Brandner and Keiji Saito and Udo Seifert},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1310.1195},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
5+6 pages, 2 figures