Related papers: Connection between maximum-work and maximum-power …
Thermoelectric generators are particularly suitable to investigate the irreversible processes which govern the coupled transport of matter and heat in solid-state systems. We study the efficiency at maximum power in the strong coupling…
The fundamental issue in the energetic performance of power plants, working both as traditional fuel engines and as combined cycle turbine (gas-steam), lies in quantifying the internal irreversibilities which are associated with the working…
We study the efficiency at maximum power of two coupled heat engines, using thermoelectric generators (TEGs) as engines. Assuming that the heat and electric charge fluxes in the TEGs are strongly coupled, we simulate numerically the…
We consider two specific thermodynamic cycles of engine operating in a finite time coupled to two thermal reservoirs with a finite heat capacity: The Carnot-type cycle and the Lorenz-type cycle. By means of the endo-reversible…
We formulate an endoreversible finite-time Carnot cycle model based on the assumptions of local equilibrium and constant energy flux, where the efficiency and the power are expressed in terms of the thermodynamic variables of the working…
The Curzon-Ahlborn efficiency has long served as the definite upper bound for the thermal efficiency at maximum output power, and has thus shaped the development of finite-time thermodynamics. In this paper, we repeal the ruling consensus…
Here, we investigate the maximum power and corresponding efficiency of thermoelectric generators through devising a set of protocols for the isothermal and adiabatic processes of thermoelectricity to build a Carnot-like thermoelectric…
We propose a two-stage cycle for an optimized linear-irreversible heat engine that operates, in a finite time, between a hot (cold) reservoir and a finite auxiliary system acting as a sink (source) in the first (second) stage. Under the…
Several recent theories address the efficiency of a macroscopic thermodynamic motor at maximum power and question the so-called "Curzon-Ahlborn (CA) efficiency." Considering the entropy exchanges and productions in an n-sources motor, we…
The Curzon-Ahlborn (CA) cycle is a paradigmatic model of endoreversible heat engines, which yields the so-called CA efficiency as the efficiency at maximum power. Due to the arbitrariness of the relationship between the steady temperature…
We study the optimization of the performance of arbitrary periodically driven thermal machines. Within the assumption of fast modulation of the driving parameters, we derive the optimal cycle that universally maximizes the extracted power…
We study how to achieve the ultimate power in the simplest, yet non trivial, model of a thermal machine, namely a two-level quantum system coupled to two thermal baths. Without making any prior assumption on the protocol, via optimal…
Active matter constantly dissipates energy to power the self-propulsion of its microscopic constituents. This opens the door to designing innovative cyclic engines without any equilibrium equivalent. We offer a consistent thermodynamic…
We use the general formulation of irreversible thermodynamics and study the minimally nonlinear irreversible model of heat engines operating between a time-varying hot heat source of finite size and a cold heat reservoir of infinite size.…
Efficiency at maximum power output of irreversible heat engines has attracted a lot of interest in recent years. We discuss the occurance of a particularly simple and elegant formula for this efficiency in various different models. The…
We study the efficiency at maximum power, $\eta_m$, of irreversible quantum Carnot engines (QCEs) that perform finite-time cycles between a hot and a cold reservoir at temperatures $T_h$ and $T_c$, respectively. For QCEs in the reversible…
The Carnot engine sets an upper limit to the efficiency of a practical heat engine. An arbitrary irreversible engine is sometimes believed to behave closely as the Curzon-Ahlborn engine. Efficiency of the latter is obtained commonly by…
We study the ratio between the variances of work output and heat input, $\eta^{(2)}$, for a class of four-stroke heat engines which covers various typical cycles. Recent studies on the upper and lower bounds of $\eta^{(2)}$ are based on the…
Nuclear power plants are prominent examples of heat-to-work conversion systems, and optimizing their thermodynamic performance offers significant potential for enhancing energy efficiency. With a development history of less than a century,…
We show that the high-temperature expansion of the free energy and arbitrary imaginary-time-ordered connected correlation functions of quantum spin systems can be recursively obtained from the exact renormalization group flow equation for…