Entropy production of a non-endoreversible thermal

engines arrangement in series

Ricardo T Pez Hernndeza, Pedro Portillo Dazb, Delfino Ladino Lunac
a,c

rea de Fsica de Procesos Irreversibles, bDpto. Ciencias Bsicas Universidad Autnoma

Metropolitana Azcapotzalco, Distrito Federal, Mxico, e-mail:a phrt@correo.azc.uam.mx, e-mail:b
ppd@correo.azc.uam.mx, e-mail:c dll@correo.azc.uam.mx

Abstract:
One of the main objectives of thermodynamics is the design and analysis of thermal engines
considering that they produce a maximum amount of work, and a practical way to achieve this is
to place these engines in series since it has been found that this type of power engines working
in cycles produce energy availability greater than a simple engine. In this paper we study an
arrangement in series of irreversible heat engines working at maximum power output, taking into
account its irreversibility through a parameter R, called non-endoreversibility parameter, and
which is given by the Clausius inequality. We obtain an expression for the efficiency of two
irreversible coupled cycles. In addition we obtain the power output, entropy production and we
construct the ecological function for two serially coupled engines. All our results are consistent
with previous studies of the entropy production of a single engine.

Keywords: Ecological Function, Efficiency, Entropy Production, Irreversibility, Maximum Power

1. Introduction
Thermodynamic efficiency is known as one of the most popular criteria after Carnot [1] to analyze
the performance of thermal engines. Carnot found that any engine extracting heat from a
temperature of the hot reservoir T1 has to deliver heat to a temperature of the cold reservoir T2 while
the work is being done . Moreover, Carnot showed that maximum efficiency in the cyclic process is
C =1T 2 /T 1

(1)

which is known as Carnot efficiency. However this efficiency has little practical relevance, since it
refers to processes cycling along reversible paths which deliver work infinitely slowly. The
limitations of Classical Equilibrium Thermodynamics (CET) to formulate useful criteria describing
the performance of real engines motivated the development of a new field, known as Finite Time
Thermodynamics (FTT) [2,3], which keeps the formalism as close as possible to equilibrium
thermodynamics while it introduces simple modifications to take into account the main sources of
irreversibility observed in real engines.
A paradigmatic model in FTT is due to Curzon-Ahlborn (CA) [4], who considered a Carnot cycle
at finite time and as an endoreversible approximation; i.e., the only sources of irreversibility are
associated with the heat transfers between the reservoirs and the working system. Assuming that the
heat transfers obey a Newton law, they found that the engine working at maximum power has the
efficiency given by,
CA =1 T 2 /T 1 .

(2)

The previous expression was obtained firstly by Novikov [5] and Chambadal [6] using a simple
models, which is called endoreversible Curzon-Ahlborn-Novikov engine (CAN). Equation (2) has
been recently derived from the theory of linear irreversible thermodynamics systems of coupled heat
engines, under the assumption that all of the engines are working at maximum power output.

The endoreversible engine is mainly based in the idea that, for many processes, it is possible to
conceive the internal relaxation times as being negligibly short compared with the duration of the
full processes. Previous research [8] has recently proposed a manner in which to include the internal
contributions to the global entropy production by means of the Clausius inequality. If any internal
irreversibility is considered, then the Clausius inequality results in ,
S1 w + S 2 w 0 ,
where

S1 w

(3)

is the change in the internal entropy along the hot isothermal branch and

S2 w

is

the entropy change corresponding to the cold isothermal compression.

Expression (3) becomes an equality by means of a constant R
S1 w + R S2 w =0
(4)
where R is the non-endoreversibility parameter given by
R= S 1 w /| S2 w| .
(5)
This parameter, which in principle is in the interval

0< R 1

(R=1 for the endoreversible limit)

can be seen as a measure of the departure from the endoreversible regime.

2. Non-endoreversible engine working at maximum power

For the case of a non-endoreversible CAN engine, as shown in Fig. 1, equation (4) becomes,
Q1
Q
Q2 1 T 2 w
=R 2 or
=
(6)
T 1w
T 2w
Q1 R T 1 w
where
and

Q1
T2w

engine is
ne =1

and

Q2

are the heat exchanges between the heat engine and its reservoirs;

T1w

are absolute temperatures of working substance. Thus, the efficiency inside of the CAN
1 T2w
.
R T1w

(7)

Following step-by-step the procedure to calculate the work per unit time, the power output W,
=1( T 2 w /T 1 w ) ,
presented in [9, 10], but now using (7) instead of
we have
W ( ne , R ) = ne

R T 1 ( 1 ne ) T 2

( + R ) ( 1ne )

where and are the thermal conductance and

(8)
T1

and

T2

are the reservoir temperatures as

shown in Fig. 1; they are linked using the linear Newton heat transfer law given by
Q1= ( T 1T 1 w )
and
Q2= ( T 2 w T 2 ) .

(9)

MP

The point

where the function of (8) reaches its maximum value is obtained by means of

( W / ne )| =0, and this condition gives

MP

2ne 2 n e + 1

1 T2
=0,
R T1

(10)

that is,
MP=1

T2
RT 1

(11)

which is some sort of non-endoreversible CAN efficiency. The power output for endoreversible
=C
CAN engines is zero at =0 and when
(the Carnot efficiency) [2, 14], and for the nonendoreversible case
ne =,C =1

1 T2
R T1

W ( ne , R )

has zeros at

ne =0

and we have

(12)

that is, some sort of non-endoreversible Carnot efficiency.

Fig. 1. Scheme for the Curzon-Ahlborn-Novikov non-endoreversible engine.

3. Series of irreversible thermal engines at maximum power

Heat engines with several heat sources are common for many real-world applications such as
industrial heat-recovery systems and solar energy installations, which provide heat at different rates,
and even more importantly at different temperatures. For instance, in solar energy installations these
differences can exist due to the difference in the angle towards the sun or because solar collectors
might be at a larger distance from the central plant and thus the losses along the transport pipes
cause a change in the effective temperature of the engine.
A schematic diagram of a thermal engine system is shown in Fig. 2. Two irreversible Carnot heat
engine cycles in series form a single cycle operating between temperatures reservoirs T1 and T2 (T1 >
T2). Waste heat from the first cycle is used completely as the heat source of the second cycle. The
working fluids in each cycle system flow continuously so that combined cycle operates in steady
state. Ti12 is the intermediate temperature of the first cycle or the source temperature for the second
cycle.

Fig. 2. Schematic of the arrangement of two engines in series irreversible Carnot

By substitution of Eq. (9) in Eq. (6), we obtain
( T 1T 11w )
( T 12 w T i12 )
1
= 1
T 11w
T 12w
By solving Eqs. (7) and (13) for
T 11 w =

1 T 1 ( 1 1) + 1 T i 12
( 1 + 1 R 1)(11)

T 11 w

(13)

, we obtain

(14)

Now we use the Eqs. (14) and (9) we get the function
Q11= 1 1 1

R1 T 1 ( 11 )T i 12
( 1 + 1 R 1)(11) .

Q11 ( 1 )

(15)

Figure 3 shows the behavior of the heat input

Q
250

R=1
R = 0 .9

200
R = 0 .8

150

R = 0 .7

100

50

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0 .4

0 .5

0 .6

Fig. 3. Heat input Q of an arrangement of two engines in series irreversible.

Now, we obtain the power output for two of non-endoreversible engines, using the (8), and result
W T = 1 1 1

R1 T 1 ( 11 ) T i 2
R2 T i 2 ( 1 2) T 2
+ 2 2 1
( 1+ 1 R1 )( 11 )
( 2 + 2 R2 ) ( 12)

(16)

Figure 4 shows the power for the two machines under irreversible, as we can see, is a convex
function with a single maximum

Fig. 4. Power output (P) of an arrangement of two engines in series irreversible.

T =W T /Q 11
Finally we obtain the total efficiency to this engine by means of

and immediately

becomes,

( 2+ R 2 2) ( 12 )

R2 T i 12 ( 12 )T 2

R1 T 1 ( 11 ) T i 12
( 1 + R1 1 ) ( 11 )

T =1+ 2 2
1 1

2
.

(17)

4. Entropy production analysis of the two irreversible engines

We follow step-by-step the procedure to calculate the entropy production [14] but now for the
arrangement, we obtain
T = 1+ 2 ,
(18)
where

is the total entropy production,

j , j=1,2;

is the entropy production due the first and

second engines respectively. After proceeding with some algebraic calculations, we obtain a long
expression, so we decide to add it in an appendix, a way to suppose that our expression is correct.

We obtain the level curves and compare with those obtained for a single engine [8], which in fact are
equal. Figure 5 shows entropy production for two irreversible engines.

Fig. 5. Entropy production T for an arrangement of two irreversible engines vs.

and

5. Ecological Function
In this section we use the so-called ecological criterion [10]. This criterion is based in the maximization of the
so-called ecological function, defined as:
E=W T 2 ,
(19)
where W is the power output of the engine, T is the absolute temperature of a heat reservoir to which
is rejected and is the total entropy production during the process.
Then we construct the ecological function for two irreversible engines, using the fact that total
T = 1+ 2
power output is given by WT = W1+W2 and the total entropy production is,
, the total
ecological function is ET = E1 +E2, of the Fig.2 we can see that,
E1=W 1T i 12 1
(20)
and
E2=W 1T 2 2 .

(21)

Once again we obtain a long expression and it add to the appendix, in Fig. 6 is shown the behavior
1
2
of the ecological function in terms of
and
. We emphasize that both functions have a
single maximum as well as the total ecological function .

Fig. 6. The total ecological function ET for two irreversible engines

6. Comments
In this paper, we use the Finite Time Thermodynamics applications to obtain the important
properties for an irreversible arrangement of two engines in series: efficiency, power output, entropy
production and finally the ecological function, using the heat transfer law of Newton. Our results
include a correct result in [8]. It is important to note, that when considering a serial engine
production, entropy is practically the sum of the entropy production and ecological function, so we
can say that is an extensive property. Future work will be check the result if this model satisfies
semisum property proposed in [13].

Acknowledgment
ThisworkwaspartiallysupportedbyCONACYT(SNI).
WeappreciatethevaluablereviewfromF.MirandaMaldonadoofthemanuscriptinEnglish.

Appendix
Expressions of total production of entropy and ecological total function for two engines in series

T =

1 1 ( T i 12 + R1 T 1 ( 11 ) )

[ R1 T 1 T 11w T i 12 ( 1 + R1 1 ) ( 1 1 ) ]

(T 1 T i 12+ R1 (T 11 W T i 12+T 1 ( T 11W +T i 12T 11 W 1 ) ))

2 2 ( T 2+ R 2 T i12 ( 21 ) )

[ R 2 T 2 T 21W T i 12 ( 2+ R 2 2 ) ( 21 ) ]

(T 2 T i 12+ R2 (T 2 (T 21W +T i 12) T 21W T i12 ( 21 ) ) )

ET =

1 1 ( T i12 + R1 T 1 ( 11 ) )

[ R 1 T 1 T 11W ( 1+ R 1 1 )( 11 ) ]

T 11 W T i 12T 1 ( T 11W +T i 12 ) + 2T 1 T 11W 1

( T 1 T i 12 + R1 ( ) ) +

2 2 ( T 2 + R2 T i 12 ( 21 ) )

[ R 2 T 21W T i 12 ( 2+ R 2 21) ( 21 ) ]

T 2 ( T 21W T i 12 ) +T 21W T i 12 ( 2 21 )
( T 2 T i 12 + R2 ( ) )

Nomenclature
E ecological function, (J)
Q heat fluxes, (J)
R non-endoreversibility parameter
T temperature of the reservoir, (K)
w isothermal branch
W power output, (W)
Greek symbols
, thermal conductance, (W/Km)
S is the change in the internal entropy, (J/K)
efficiency

entropy production, (J/K)

Subscripts and superscripts

C Carnot
CA Curzon-Ahlborn
CAN Curzon-Ahlborn-Novikov
MP maximum power

T total
i intermediate
1 engine 1, hot (high)
2, engine 2, cold (low)
11 engine 1, hot
12 engine 1, cold
21 engine 2, hot
22 engine 2, cold

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