9–1 ■ BASIC CONSIDERATIONS IN THE ANALYSIS
OF POWER CYCLESMost power-producing devices operate on cycles, and the study of power
cycles is an exciting and important part of thermodynamics. The cycles
encountered in actual devices are difficult to analyze because of the pres-
ence of complicating effects, such as friction, and the absence of sufficient
time for establishment of the equilibrium conditions during the cycle. To
make an analytical study of a cycle feasible, we have to keep the complexi-
ties at a manageable level and utilize some idealizations (Fig. 9–1). When
the actual cycle is stripped of all the internal irreversibilities and complexi-
ties, we end up with a cycle that resembles the actual cycle closely but is
made up totally of internally reversible processes. Such a cycle is called an
ideal cycle(Fig. 9–2).
A simple idealized model enables engineers to study the effects of the
major parameters that dominate the cycle without getting bogged down in the
details. The cycles discussed in this chapter are somewhat idealized, but they
still retain the general characteristics of the actual cycles they represent. The
conclusions reached from the analysis of ideal cycles are also applicable to
actual cycles. The thermal efficiency of the Otto cycle, the ideal cycle for
spark-ignition automobile engines, for example, increases with the compres-
sion ratio. This is also the case for actual automobile engines. The numerical
values obtained from the analysis of an ideal cycle, however, are not necessar-
ily representative of the actual cycles, and care should be exercised in their
interpretation (Fig. 9–3). The simplified analysis presented in this chapter for
various power cycles of practical interest may also serve as the starting point
for a more in-depth study.
Heat engines are designed for the purpose of converting thermal energy to
work, and their performance is expressed in terms of the thermal efficiency
hth, which is the ratio of the net work produced by the engine to the total
heat input:(9–1)Recall that heat engines that operate on a totally reversible cycle, such as
the Carnot cycle, have the highest thermal efficiency of all heat engines
operating between the same temperature levels. That is, nobody can develop
a cycle more efficient than the Carnot cycle.Then the following question
arises naturally: If the Carnot cycle is the best possible cycle, why do we
not use it as the model cycle for all the heat engines instead of bothering
with several so-called idealcycles? The answer to this question is hardware-
related. Most cycles encountered in practice differ significantly from the
Carnot cycle, which makes it unsuitable as a realistic model. Each ideal
cycle discussed in this chapter is related to a specific work-producing device
and is an idealizedversion of the actual cycle.
The ideal cycles are internally reversible,but, unlike the Carnot cycle,
they are not necessarily externally reversible. That is, they may involve irre-
versibilities external to the system such as heat transfer through a finite tem-
perature difference. Therefore, the thermal efficiency of an ideal cycle, in
general, is less than that of a totally reversible cycle operating between thehthWnet
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OVENACTUALIDEAL175ºCWATERPotatoFIGURE 9–1
Modeling is a powerful engineering
tool that provides great insight and
simplicity at the expense of some loss
in accuracy.
P
Actual cycleIdeal cyclevFIGURE 9–2
The analysis of many complex
processes can be reduced to a
manageable level by utilizing some
idealizations.
FIGURE 9–3
Care should be exercised in the interpre-
tation of the results from ideal cycles.
© Reprinted with special permission of King
Features Syndicate.