Related papers: Extreme-temperature single-particle heat engine
We study the non-equilibrium thermodynamics of a heat engine operating between two finite-sized reservoirs with well-defined temperatures. Within the linear response regime, it is found that the uniform temperature of the two reservoirs at…
The unavoidable irreversible losses of power in a heat engine are found to be of quantum origin. Following thermodynamic tradition a model quantum heat engine operating by the Otto cycle is analyzed. The working medium of the model is…
For a single enzyme or molecular motor operating in an aqueous solution of non-equilibrated solute concentrations, a thermodynamic description is developed on the level of an individual trajectory of transitions between states. The concept…
A calculation method for engine temperatures is presented. Special focus is placed on the transient and scattering boundary conditions within the combustion chamber, including fired and coasting conditions, as well as the dynamic heat…
The minimal set of thermodynamic control parameters consists of a statistical (thermal) and a mechanical one. These suffice to introduce all the pertinent thermodynamic variables; thermodynamic processes can then be defined as paths on this…
Collective effects have attracted remarkable recent interest, not only for their presence in several systems in nature but also for the possibility of being used for the construction of efficient engine setups. Notwithstanding, little is…
Single-particle heat engines at atomic and colloidal scales obey the universal thermodynamic bounds on work and efficiency. Here, we translate these principles to the macroscale by building an athermal Stirling engine whose working medium…
We study the maximum efficiency of a Carnot cycle heat engine based on a small system. It is revealed that due to the finiteness of the system, irreversibility may arise when the working substance contacts with a heat bath. As a result,…
The limit of small entropy production is reached in relaxing systems long after preparation, and in stationary driven systems in the limit of small driving power. Surprisingly, for extended systems this limit is not in general the…
We study the energestics of a thermal motor driven by temperature differences, which consists of Brownian particles moving in a sawtooth potential with an external load where the viscous medium is alternately in contact with hot and cold…
We study microscopic engines that use a single active particle as their "working medium". Part of the energy required to drive the directed motion of the particle can be recovered as work, even at constant temperature. A wide class of…
According to the laws of thermodynamics, no heat engine can beat the efficiency of a Carnot cycle. This efficiency traditionally comes with vanishing power output and practical designs, optimized for power, generally achieve far less.…
Established heat engines in quantum regime can be modeled with various quantum systems as working substances. For example, in the non-relativistic case, we can model the heat engine using infinite potential well as a working substance to…
We use molecular dynamics simulations to study the dynamics of an ensemble of interacting self-propelled semi-flexible polymers in contact with a thermal bath. Our intention is to model complex systems of biological interest. We find that…
The concept of thermal machines has evolved from the canonical steam engine to the recently proposed nanoscopic quantum systems as working fluids. The latter obey quantum open system dynamics and frequently operate in non-equilibrium…
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 consider a Brownian particle confined by an external potential and subject to stochastic resetting to the origin. Motivated by the repetitive nature of the dynamics, we describe the process as a thermodynamic cycle of thermal expansion…
We propose a configuration of a single three-level quantum emitter embedded in a non-equilibrium steady electromagnetic environment, able to stabilize and control the local temperatures of a target system it interacts with, consisting of a…
Cyclical heat engines are a paradigm of classical thermodynamics, but are impractical for miniaturization because they rely on moving parts. A more recent concept is particle-exchange (PE) heat engines, which uses energy filtering to…
The aim of this paper is to determine lost works in a molecular engine and compare results with macro (classical) heat engines. Firstly, irreversible thermodynamics are reviewed for macro and molecular cycles. Secondly, irreversible…