Related papers: Miniature work-to-work converter engine powered by…
Microscopic biological systems operate far from equilibrium, are subject to strong fluctuations, and are composed of many coupled components with interactions varying in nature and strength. Researchers are actively investigating the…
The output of a motor is work, while the output of a clock is information. Here it is discussed how a molecular motor can produce both, work and information, depending on the load. If the ratio of the backward and forward stepping rates of…
Many cell functions are accomplished thanks to intracellular transport mechanisms of macromolecules along filaments. Molecular motors such as dynein or kinesin are proteins playing a primary role in these processes. The behavior of such…
A data fitting procedure is devised and thoroughly tested to provide self-consistent estimates of the relevant mechanokinetic parameters involved in a plausible scheme underpinning the output of an ensemble of myosin II molecular motors…
We investigate fluctuations of output work for a class of Stirling heat engines with working fluid composed of interacting units and compare these fluctuations to an average work output. In particular, we focus on engine performance close…
The minimal-coupling quantum heat engine is a thermal machine consisting of an explicit energy storage system, heat baths, and a working body, which alternatively couples to subsystems through discrete strokes -- energy-conserving two-body…
Micro DC brushed motors are widely deployed in battery-powered biomedical systems, where limited energy budgets and variable physiological loading impose stringent efficiency and safety constraints. However, conventional actuation…
Characterizing and optimizing nanoscopic heat engines require an appropriate understanding of the interplay between power, efficiency, entropy production and fluctuations. Despite significant recent advancements, including linear stochastic…
Microscopic thermal machines that are of the dimensions of around few hundred nanometers have been the subject of intense study over the last two decades. Recently, it has been shown that the efficiency of such thermal engines can be…
The efficiency of any heat engine, defined as the ratio of average work output to heat input, is bounded by Carnot's celebrated result. However, this measure is insufficient to characterize the properties of miniaturized heat engines…
Because of its nonequilibrium character, active matter in a steady state can drive engines that autonomously deliver work against a constant mechanical force or torque. As a generic model for such an engine, we consider systems that contain…
The study of protein functions attributed to the conformation and fluctuation that are ruled by both the amino acid sequence and thermodynamics, requires thermodynamic quantities given by calorimetry using thermometric techniques. The…
The conversion of thermal energy into work is usually more efficient in the slow-driving regime, where the power output is vanishingly small. Efficient work extraction for fast driving protocols remains an outstanding challenge at the…
We investigate a model of a stochastic engine operating cyclically at constant bath temperature, which consists of an overdamped Brownian harmonic oscillator that plays the role of working substance and is elastically coupled to an active…
Stochastic heat engines are devices that generate work from random thermal motion using a small number of highly fluctuating degrees of freedom. Proposals for such devices have existed for more than a century and include the Maxwell demon…
With the progress of nano-technology, thermodynamics also has to be scaled down, calling for specific protocols to extract and measure work. Usually, such protocols involve the action of an external, classical field (the battery) of…
In the standard framework of thermodynamics the work produced or consumed in a process is a random variable whose average value is bounded by the change in the free energy of the system. This work is calculated without regard for the size…
Developments in the thermodynamics of small quantum systems envisage non-classical thermal machines. In this scenario, energy fluctuations play a relevant role in the description of irreversibility. We experimentally implement a quantum…
This paper reports on our research in developing a micro power generation system based on gas turbine engine and piezoelectric converter. The micro gas turbine engine consists of a micro combustor, a turbine and a centrifugal compressor.…
We reassess the concept of transition at minimum work in classical stochastic finite-time thermodynamics, when the system dynamics is modelled by a diffusion process. We show that a well-posed formulation of the optimal control problem…