Related papers: Boosting thermoelectric efficiency using time-depe…
We study thermodynamics of a heat-conducting ideal gas system. The study is based on i) the first law of thermodynamics from action formulation which expects heat-dependence of energy density and ii) the existence condition of a (local)…
Although electric power networks and district heating networks are physically coupled, they are not operated in a coordinated manner. With increasing penetration of renewable energy sources, a coordinated market-based operation of the two…
Thermoelectric devices are heat engines, which operate as generators or refrigerators using the conduction electrons as a working fluid. The thermoelectric heat-to-work conversion efficiency has always been typically quite low, but much…
More than half of the waste heat rejected into the environment has temperatures lower than 100 $^\circ C$, which accounts for nearly 85 PWh/year worldwide. Efficiently harvesting low-grade heat could be a promising step toward carbon…
Power and efficiency of heat engines are two conflicting objectives, and a tight efficiency bound is expected to give insights on the fundamental properties of the power-efficiency tradeoff. Here we derive an upper bound on the efficiency…
Thermodynamics at the nanoscale is known to differ significantly from its familiar macroscopic counterpart: the possibility of state transitions is not determined by free energy alone, but by an infinite family of free-energy-like…
We study the thermodynamic efficiency of the Malkus-Lorenz waterwheel. For this purpose, we derive an exact analytical formula that describes the efficiency of this dissipative structure as a function of the phase space variables and the…
We derive bounds to the thermodynamic uncertainty relations in the linear-response regime for steady-state transport in two-terminal systems when time reversal symmetry is broken. We find that such bounds are different for charge and heat…
The common saying, that information is power, takes a rigorous form in stochastic thermodynamics, where a quantitative equivalence between the two helps explain the paradox of Maxwell's demon in its ability to reduce entropy. In the present…
The quest for good thermoelectric materials and/or high-efficiency thermoelectric devices is of primary importance from theoretical and practical points of view. Low-dimensional structures with quantum dots or molecules are promising…
Power and efficiency are fundamental criteria for evaluating the performance of thermodynamic cycles. However, it is generally impossible to maximize both simultaneously. In particular, achieving maximum efficiency inevitably leads to…
In this paper, we design real-time decentralized and distributed control schemes for Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems in energy efficient buildings. The control schemes balance user comfort and energy saving, and are…
We study the thermoelectric properties and heat-to-work conversion performance of an interacting, multi-level quantum dot (QD) weakly coupled to electronic reservoirs. We focus on the sequential tunneling regime. The dynamics of the charge…
Molecular junctions and similar devices described by an energy dependent transmission coefficient can have a high linear response thermoelectric figure of merit. Since such devices are inherently non-linear, the full thermodynamic…
Systems that are driven by a randomly timed, external protocol can seemingly violate the second law of thermodynamics. We show that this thermodynamic paradox is resolved if the outcome of the random time is stored in a memory device.…
The concepts of weighted reciprocal of temperature and weighted thermal flux are proposed for a heat engine operating between two heat baths and outputting mechanical work. With the aid of these two concepts, the generalized thermodynamic…
An analysis of efficiency and its bounds at maximum work output for Carnot-like heat engines is conducted. The heat transfer processes are described by the linear law with time-dependent heat conductance. The upper bound of efficiency is…
We consider the nonlinear scattering theory for three-terminal thermoelectric devices, used for power generation or refrigeration. Such systems are quantum phase-coherent versions of a thermocouple, and the theory applies to systems in…
Environmentally-powered computer systems operate on renewable energy harvested from their environment, such as solar or wind, and stored in batteries. While harvesting environmental energy has long been necessary for small-scale embedded…
I propose a design strategy to enhance the performance of heat engine via absorption of thermal energy from the channel region. The absorption of thermal energy can be actuated by inelastic processes and may be accomplished by an energy…