On the efficiency of a non-endoreversible Stirling cycle

Delfino Ladino-Luna 1, Pedro Portillo-Daz 2, Ricardo T. Pez-Hernndez3

1,3

rea de Fsica de Procesos Irreversibles, 2Dpto. de Ciencias Bsicas

Universidad Autnoma Metropolitana-A, Mxico, Mxico
1
dll@correo.azc.uam.mx, 2pportillodaz@gmail.com, 3phrt@correo.azc.uam.mx

Abstract :
In the present paper we make an analysis of the Stirling cycle from the point of view of finite time
thermodynamics, assuming the existence of internal irreversibilities in an engine modeled by this cycle, and
considering an ideal gas as working substance.. We also seek for expressions for efficiency in both regimes:
maximum power output and maximum ecological function. Appropriate variables are introduced so that the
objective functions, namely power output, ecological function and efficiency can be functions of the
reservoirs temperatures ratio and certain "measurable" parameters as a thermal conductance, the general
constant of gases and the compression ratio of the cycle. Several results from the finite time
thermodynamics literature are used, so that the developed methodology leads directly to appropriate
expressions of the objective functions, simplifying the optimization process.

Keywords:
Thermal cycles, Stirling cycle, power output, ecological function, efficiency

1. Introduction
As it is known, the thermal engines can be endothermic or exothermic. Among the first, the best
known are Otto and Diesel; and among the second two engines, very interesting and similar to the
theoretical Carnot engine are Stirling and Ericsson engines [1,2]. Particularly a Stirling engine is a
closed-cycle regenerative engine initially used for various applications, including water pumping,
and until the middle of last century they were manufactured on a large scale. But the development
of internal combustion engines from the mid-nineteenth century and the improvement in the
refining of fossil fuels influenced the abandonment of the Stirling and Ericsson engines in the race
for industrialization, gradually since the early twentieth century. Reference [3] is an interesting
paper devoted to Stirling engine. The Stirling cycle has an efficiency which goes towards the Carnot
efficiency as it is shown on some textbooks.
On other hand, the finite time thermodynamics theory actually is considered an extension of the
classical equilibrium thermodynamics in the study of heat engines, in which explicitly is included
time dependence of processes of heat transfer between reservoirs and the engine [4-11]. By
excluding the irreversible processes occurring within the working substance we obtain the
endoreversible cycle, but if we take into account the effects of these processes, the cycle is called
non-endoreversible. The exclusion of such effects is known as endoreversibility hypothesis, and is
considered for cases in which the internal relaxation time of the working substance is very small
compared with the total cycle time. At first Curzon and Ahlborn analyzed the endoreversible Carnot
cycle with finite heat transfer between hot and cold thermal reservoirs with temperatures TH and
TC , respectively, with TH TC , and ideal gas as working substance, operating at maximum power

output [4]. The Carnot cycle is modified so that the working substance has a different temperature
than its reservoirs, THW and TCW , fulfilling TH THW TCW TC . The efficiency for this cycle is
known as Curzon-Ahlborn-Novikov-Chambadal efficiency, and with the definition TH TC it
can be written as [12,13],
CAN 1 .

(1)

Carnot cycle in the classical equilibrium thermodynamics context is a cycle in which the working
substance during the isothermal processes has the same temperature as the reservoirs, TH THW
and TC TCW , and has the efficiency,
C 1 .

(2)

It is important to point out that a difference between endothermic and exothermic engines is the
type of fuel used. While the first mentioned engines need fuel of a certain quality, the other engines
can work with low-quality fuels and even alternative sources such as solar energy.. Also in
exothermic engines the working fluid does not change its composition during the cycle; these
engines are quiet and safe but not very powerful. Since the end of the previous century, and on
recent times, the Stirling engine characteristics have resulted in renewed interest in the study and
design of such engines, and in the analysis of its theoretical idealized cycle, as it is shown in many
papers [14-25]. Nevertheless, the discussion on this engine and its theoretical model has not been
exhausted. Particularly, with a similar analysis made by Curzon and Ahlborn [4], Stirling and
Ericsson cycles were analyzed by Angulo-Brown and Ramos-Madrigal [15]. They found that the
efficiency of these cycles is towards efficiency given in (1).
On the other hand, it is known real heat engines working with non-ideal gases have internal
processes that influence its performance. This is reason enough to consider an analysis of non
endoreversible cycles, and with non-ideal gas as working substance. Several authors have addressed
these problems, as Ibrahim et al. [26], Chen [27], and Velasco et al. [28], among others, which
analyzed the non-endoreversible Curzon and Ahlborn cycle.
Ibrahim et al. [26] showed the efficiency at maximum power of some cycles equal (or approximated
to) m 1 / , where is a parameter to take into account internal ireversibilities in the cycle,
with 0 1 . In the cycle without internal irreversibilities 1 . Chen [27] includes this
parameter as I S 1 / and wrote the efficiency of a Curzon and Ahlborn cycle heat engine at
maximum power given as m 1 I S , with I S 1 . Velasco et al. [28] assumed the parameter
I 1 / I S as a -independent parameter, and showed 0.8 I 0.9 for typical power plants with
water as working fluid. Moreover, an adequate model of performance for modern plants is the
ecological function, approached by Angulo-Brown [29], and in the maximum ecological function
regime was found the efficiency EI 1 2 / 2 I , for the non-endoreversible Curzon and
Ahlborn cycle [30]. Therefore, an analysis of the Stirling cycle from the viewpoint of finite time
thermodynamics assuming the existence of internal irreversibilities in an engine modeled by this
cycle is now made, shows modified expressions for the power output and ecological function, and
examines how one can build the expression for the efficiency in both regimes, maximum power
output and maximum ecological function. Some results from [15] are used, and we look into
obtaining expressions for the power output, ecological function and efficiency, similar to those
obtained in [26,27,30]. Variable changes are made correctly, like those used in Gutkowicz-Krusin et
al. [7], and Ladino-Luna [30]. This paper has two purposes, the first is to show a methodology for
writing objective functions including compression ratio as an important parameter. The second one
is to show as in classical equilibrium thermodynamics, the Stirling cycle has efficiency like the
Carnot cycle efficiency. In the context of finite time thermodynamic this cycle has efficiency that in
their limit cases is always reduced to the Curzon and Ahlborn cycle efficiency.

2. Known results and basic assumptions

To construct expressions for power output and ecological function it is necessary make some initial
assumptions. First, heat transfer of the process of the cycle is supposed to occur as Newtons
cooling law for two bodies in thermal contact with temperatures Ti and T f , Ti T f , with a
rapidity of heat change dQ / dt , and a constant thermal conductance , which for convenience is
assumed to be equal in all cases of heat transfer,

dQ
(Ti T f ) ,
dt

(3)
On the other hand, it is assumed that the internal processes of the system cause irreversibilities that
can be represented by a factor I S [26], so the second law of thermodynamics permits us to write
Q
T
Q
I S H C 0 or QC CW I S QH .
(4)
THW TCW
THW
Power output is defined as,
W
P tot ,
ttot
(5)
4

j 1

i 1

where Wtot W j , W j work by the system in the j-th process, ttot t j , t j time of j-th
process. Similarly the entropy production and the ecological function can be constructed taking into
account (3) and (4), from its definition, i. e.,

S
,
ttot

(6)

and
E P TC

(7)

As [7] shows, for an ideal gas as working substance in the case of an isothermal process the
equation of state leads to,
RTi dV
(Ti T f ) .
(8)
V dt
As is known, Stirling cycle consists of two isochoric processes and two isothermal processes. At
finite time is considered the difference between the temperatures of reservoirs and the
corresponding operating temperatures, similarl to those of Curzon and Ahlborn cycle [4], as shown
in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Idealized Stirling cycle at the V-p (volume vs pressure) plane

A fundamental assumption for this cycle is that the heating and cooling at constant volume are
performed as,
dT
rV constant ,
dt

(9)
where it is not dificult to show that it meets,
Q1V Q2V .
(10)
On other hand, from the equilibrium conditions it can be assumed,
dU dQ
dT

CV
rV CV ,
dt
dt
dt

(11)

and since the heat of heating and cooling respectively, from the first law of thermodynamics,
Q1V CV (THW TCW ) U 41

(12a)

and
Q2V CV (TCW THW ) U 23 ,

(12b)

and the time for each of isochoric processes are given as,
tV

1
(THW TCW ) .
rV

(13)

The time for the isothermal processes can be found from (8) as,
RTHW
V
t1
ln V2
1
(TH THW )
(14a)
and
t2

RTCW
V
ln V1 ,
2
(TCW TC )

(14b)
where the negative sign in the second expression is presented because there is no negative time, and
the total time of the cycle is now,
RTHW
RTCW
2
V
V
ttot
ln V2
ln V1 (THW TCW ) .
(15)
1
2
(TH THW )
(TCW TC )
rV

3. Efficiency at maximum power output regime

So, the power output of cycle since its definition and taking into account (4) is writen as,

QH I S

TCW
THW

QH

t1 t 2 2tV

Now with the change of variables used in Ladino-Luna [30],

(16)

ZI IS

TCW
THW

and u

THW
,
TH

(17)

and taking into account the ratio of temperatures of the heat reservoirs, used in (1) and (2), the
power output of the cycle takes the form,

TH (1 Z I )

1
1 u

IS ZI
IuIS

2T H
V I S rV

( I S Z I )

(18)
where the parameter ( 1) ln(V2 / V1 ) 1 is used, that includes the compression ratio of cycle
V2 / V1 rC . The optimization conditions PI / u Z const 0 and PI / Z I u const 0 permit us
I

to find the function Z I Z I ( , I S , ) . From the first one we obtain u u ( Z I , I S ) as,

u

(Z I I S ) I S
Z I (1 I S )

(19)

and from the second one a solution physically adequate of z I can be obtained by

(1 I S ) 2 rV CV I S 2TH ( I S 2 Z I I S ) (1 Z I )( Z I I S )

( Z I I S ) (1 Z I ) Z I (1 I S ) 2 rV CV I S 2TH ( Z I I S )( I S Z I ) 0

so that the efficiency at maximum power output can be written as,

SIP 1 Z IP ( , I S , ) ,

(20)

(21)

for known values of parameters CV , and TH . In the limit 0 , namely V2 /V1 , the
efficiency of the non-endoreversible Stirling cycle, SIP , goes to the non-endoreversible Curzon
and Ahlborn cycle, as can be seen from (20),
SIP m 1

.
I

(22)

4. Efficiency at maximum ecological function regime

The analysis for the case of ecological function is similar to the case of power output, and also leads
to similar results. The shape of the function u u ( Z I , I S , ) is the same in (19), but the form of
Z I Z I ( , I S , ) changes due to ecological function can be interpreted as an effective power output
obtained of the heat engine. The simplest expression of ecological function is as [19],
E P TC
(23)
where TC is the temperature of the cold reservoir and is the entropy production definite as
S / t tot , because heating and cooling in both isochoric and isobaric processes are consideried
constant, and taking into account (10) and (22), the change of entropy can be taken only for
isothermal processes. Consequently the change of entropy for the non-endoreversible cycles
considered is,
Q
T
Q
Q
Q
S H C H I S CW H ,
(24)
TH TC
TH
THW TC

which leads to the ecological function as,

E

QH
ttot

1 2 I S

TCW TC

THW TH

RTHW
ttot

1 2 I S

TCW TC

THW TH

ln 2 ,
V

(25)

where ttot for the Stirling cycle i took as (15). Notice that the difference is in the parameter that
involves non-isothermal heating and cooling. A general ecological function can be written as,

TH (1 2Z I )

1
1 u

IS ZI
I uIS

2TH
V I S rV

( I S Z I )

(26)
In the case of power output optimizing, there are two conditions for the efficiency at maximum
ecological function, i e, E / u Z I const 0 and E / Z I u const 0 . These conditions lead to
obtaining the parameter u as in (19) and also Z IE Z IE ( , I S , ) as an adequate solution for the
second condition of maximum ecological function by the relation u u ( Z IE , I S ) , and

(1 2Z I ) 2(Z I

) 0.

I S ) Z I (1 I S ) 2 rV CV I S 2TH ( Z I I S )( I S Z I )

(1 2 Z I )( Z I I S ) (1 I S ) 2 rV CV I 2TH ( I S 2 Z I I S

(27)

The efficiency for the Stirling cycle at maximum ecological function can be written now as,
SIE 1 Z IE ( , I S , ) ,

(28)

and also in the limit 0 goes towards the non-endoreversible Curzon and Ahlborn cycle by (7) at
maximum ecological function, i. e.,
SIE EI 1

2
2I

(29)

The existence of a finite heat transfer in isothermal processes and the assumption of constant
heating and cooling are affected with the assumption of a non- endoreversible cycle with ideal gas
as working substance. However, the general form of power and ecological function of such
analyzed cycles is similar to the corresponding previous expresions, obtained in the literature of
finite time thermodynamics. One can see that 0 implies instantaneous adiabats in the case of
Curzon and Ahlborn cycle, and the expresions for power output, ecological function and the
corresponding eficiencies are the same as in Ladino-Luna [30,31].
Power output and ecological function have also an issue that shows direct dependence on the
temperature of the working substance. Figures 2 and 3 show the approach of efficiencies obtained
from (20) and (27) to the previously efficiencies found [26,27,30], for different values or
compression ratio and assuming constant values to the parameters involved.

Fig. 2. Comparison of resulting efficiencies from (20) with (22)

Fig. 2. Comparison of resulting efficiencies from (27) with (29)

In previous figures we can be appreciate that the limit I S 0 leads to the obtained expresions in
Angulo-Brown and Ramos-Madrigal [25], but with the parameters used in the present paper.
Expressions obtained with the changes of variable suggested (17) have the virtue of leading
directly to the shape of the efficiency through the function Z I .

Comments
The developed methodology leads directly to appropriate expressions of the objective functions
simplifying the optimization process, and this methodology shows the consequences of assuming
non endoreversible cyle in the process of isothermal heat transfer through the factor I 1 / I , which
represents the internal irreversibilities of cycle [26], so that the proposed heat engine model is closer
to a real engine. On other hand, as the known Carnot theorem provided a level of operation of heat
engines, the Curzon and Ahlborn cycle provides levels of operation of such engines closer to reality.
In this sense, the same manner within the context of classical equilibrium thermodynamics shows
that in any cycle formed by two isothermal processes and any other pair of the same processes
(isobaric, ischoric, adiabatic), efficiency tends to Carnot cycle efficiency. In the context of finite
time thermodynamics, any cycle as previously mentioned has an efficiency which tends to Curzon
Ahlborn cycle efficiency. The above statements are independent if the cycle is considered
endoreversible or non-endorreversible

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the support of CONACYT (Mxico) by the SNI program
We appreciate the valuable review from F. Miranda Maldonado of the manuscript in English.
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