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A heat engine is a system that converts heat to usable energy, particularly mechanical energy, which can then be used to do mechanical work. [1] [2] While originally conceived in the context of mechanical energy, the concept of the heat engine has been applied to various other kinds of energy, particularly electrical, since at least the late 19th century.
Carnot engine diagram (modern) - where an amount of heat Q H flows from a high temperature T H furnace through the fluid of the "working body" (working substance) and the remaining heat Q C flows into the cold sink T C, thus forcing the working substance to do mechanical work W on the surroundings, via cycles of contractions and expansions.
A reversible heat engine with a low efficiency delivers more heat (energy) to the hot reservoir for a given amount of work (energy) to this engine when it is being driven as a heat pump. All these mean that heat can transfer from cold to hot places without external work, and such a heat transfer is impossible by the second law of thermodynamics .
A Carnot cycle is an ideal thermodynamic cycle proposed by French physicist Sadi Carnot in 1824 and expanded upon by others in the 1830s and 1840s. By Carnot's theorem, it provides an upper limit on the efficiency of any classical thermodynamic engine during the conversion of heat into work, or conversely, the efficiency of a refrigeration system in creating a temperature difference through ...
The heat source may be provided by the combustion of a fuel and, since the combustion products do not mix with the working fluid and hence do not come into contact with the internal parts of the engine, a Stirling engine can run on fuels that would damage other engine types' internals, such as landfill gas, which may contain siloxane that could ...
In the process of passing through a cycle, the working fluid (system) may convert heat from a warm source into useful work, and dispose of the remaining heat to a cold sink, thereby acting as a heat engine. Conversely, the cycle may be reversed and use work to move heat from a cold source and transfer it to a warm sink thereby acting as a heat ...
For a heat engine, thermal efficiency is the ratio of the net work output to the heat input; in the case of a heat pump, thermal efficiency (known as the coefficient of performance or COP) is the ratio of net heat output (for heating), or the net heat removed (for cooling) to the energy input (external work). The efficiency of a heat engine is ...
Diesel's idea of a rational heat motor was designing a cycle that would allow maximum heat utilisation, [9] based on the Carnot cycle. [1] To overcome the low efficiency of steam and combustion engines of the time, Diesel wanted to build an entirely new type of internal combustion engine. [10]