Thermodynamics
217
The second law yields
(2-124)
To obtain the fraction
of
the heat input
Q,
that is converted to useful work, Equa-
tions
2-123
and
2-124
are combined to give
W
Ti-T,
Qi
Ti
_-
--
(2-125)
This important result is called the
Curnot engine efficiency
and yields the
maximum
thermal efficiency
that can be achieved by
any
heat engine cycle operating between any
two given temperature limits. Heat engines have been proposed
to
operate within
the temperature gradients of the ocean
as
a means of harnessing the vast amounts of
renewable energy available from that source.
Heat
Pumps
A heat pump, which is the opposite of a heat engine, uses work energy
to
transfer
heat from a cold reservoir
to
a “hot” reservoir.
In
households, the cold reservoir is
often the surrounding air
or
the ground while the hot reservoir is the home. For an
ideal heat pump system with
Q1
and
TI
referring to the hot reservoir and
Qr
and T2
referring to the cold reservoir, the work required
is,
from the first and second laws,
(2-126)
Application
of
this result shows that if
100
units of heat
Q,
are needed to maintain a
household at
24°C (297°K)
by “pumping” heat from the outside surroundings at
0°C
(273”K),
it would require a minimum of
(24
x
100/297)
=
8.08
units of work energy.
Refrigeration Machines
Refrigerating machines absorb heat
Q
from a cold reservoir at temperature
T,,
and discharge heat
Q,,
into a “hot” reservoir at Ti.
To
accomplish this, work energy
must also be absorbed. The minimum required work is obtained as shown before,
using the first and second laws:
W
-
Ti -T,
Q,
Ti
(2-127)
Reversible
Work
of Expansion or Compression
Many systems involve only work of expansion
or
compression
of
the system
boundaries. For such systems the first law is written for unit mass
of
fluid as the basis:
dU
=
SQ
-
PdV
(2-128)
where
s,”’
P
dV represents the reversible work
of
compression or expansion.