Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The wall-plug efficiency is the measure of output radiative-energy, in watts (joules per second), per total input electrical energy in watts. The output energy is usually measured in terms of absolute irradiance and the wall-plug efficiency is given as a percentage of the total input energy, with the inverse percentage representing the losses.
To express the efficiency of a generator or power plant as a percentage, invert the value if dimensionless notation or same unit are used. For example: A heat rate value of 5 gives an efficiency factor of 20%. A heat rate value of 2 kWh/kWh gives an efficiency factor of 50%. A heat rate value of 4 MJ/MJ gives an efficiency factor of 25%.
[1] [2] Higher COPs equate to higher efficiency, lower energy (power) consumption and thus lower operating costs. The COP is used in thermodynamics . The COP usually exceeds 1, especially in heat pumps, because instead of just converting work to heat (which, if 100% efficient, would be a COP of 1), it pumps additional heat from a heat source to ...
Efficiency is often measured as the ratio of useful output to total input, which can be expressed with the mathematical formula r=P/C, where P is the amount of useful output ("product") produced per the amount C ("cost") of resources consumed.
High efficiency is particularly relevant in systems that can operate from batteries. Inefficiency may require weighing the cost either of the wasted energy, or of the required power supply, against the cost of attaining greater efficiency. Efficiency can usually be improved by choosing different components or by redesigning the system.
The above efficiency formulas are based on simple idealized mathematical models of engines, with no friction and working fluids that obey simplified thermodynamic models. Real engines have many departures from ideal behavior that waste energy, reducing actual efficiencies below the theoretical values given above. Examples are: friction of ...
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.
Therefore, the efficiency of all real machines is less than 1. A hypothetical machine without friction is called an ideal machine; such a machine would not have any energy losses, so its output power would equal its input power, and its efficiency would be 1 (100%). For hydropower turbines the efficiency is referred to as hydraulic efficiency ...