No Arabic abstract
A specific class of stochastic heat engines driven cyclically by time-dependent potential, which is defined in the half-line ($0<x<+infty$), is analysed. For such engines, most of their physical quantities can be obtained explicitly, including the entropy and internal energy of the heat engine, as well as output work (power) and heat exchange with the environment during a finite time interval. The optimisation method based on the external potential to reduce {it irreversible} work and increase energy efficiency is presented. With this optimised potential, efficiency $eta^*$ and its particular value at maximum power $eta^*_{rm EMP}$ are calculated and discussed briefly.
In order to establish better performance compromises between the process functionals of a heat engine, in the context of finite time thermodynamics (FTT), we propose some generalizations for the well known Efficient Power function through certain variables called <<Generalization Parameters>>. These generalization proposals show advantages in the characterization of operation modes for an endoreversible heat engine model. In particular, with introduce the k-Efficient Power regime. For this objective function we find the performance of the operation of some power plants through the parameter k. Likewise, for plants that operate in a low efficiency zone, within a configuration space, the k parameter allow us to generate conditions for these plants to operate inside of a high efficiency and low dissipation zone.
Brownian heat engines use local temperature gradients in asymmetric potentials to move particles against an external force. The energy efficiency of such machines is generally limited by irreversible heat flow carried by particles that make contact with different heat baths. Here we show that, by using a suitably chosen energy filter, electrons can be transferred reversibly between reservoirs that have different temperatures and electrochemical potentials. We apply this result to propose heat engines based on mesoscopic semiconductor ratchets, which can quasistatically operate arbitrarily close to Carnot efficiency.
Even though irreversibility is one of the major hallmarks of any real life process, an actual understanding of irreversible processes remains still mostly semiempirical. In this paper we formulate a thermodynamic uncertainty principle for irreversible heat engines operating with an ideal gas as a working medium. In particular, we show that the time needed to run through such an irreversible cycle multiplied by the irreversible work lost in the cycle, is bounded from below by an irreducible and process-dependent constant that has the dimension of an action. The constant in question depends on a typical scale of the process and becomes comparable to Plancks constant at the length scale of the order Bohr-radius, i.e., the scale that corresponds to the smallest distance on which the ideal gas paradigm realistically applies.
We consider the performance of periodically driven stochastic heat engines in the linear response regime. Reaching the theoretical bounds for efficiency and efficiency at maximum power typically requires full control over the design and the driving of the system. We develop a framework which allows to quantify the role that limited control over the system has on the performance. Specifically, we show that optimizing the driving entering the work extraction for a given temperature protocol leads to a universal, one-parameter dependence for both maximum efficiency and maximum power as a function of efficiency. In particular, we show that reaching Carnot efficiency (and, hence, Curzon-Ahlborn efficiency at maximum power) requires to have control over the amplitude of the full Hamiltonian of the system. Since the kinetic energy cannot be controlled by an external parameter, heat engines based on underdamped dynamics can typically not reach Carnot efficiency. We illustrate our general theory with a paradigmatic case study of a heat engine consisting of an underdamped charged particle in a modulated two-dimensional harmonic trap in the presence of a magnetic field.
We derive universal bounds for the finite-time survival probability of the stochastic work extracted in steady-state heat engines. We also find estimates for the time-dependent thresholds that the stochastic work does not surpass with a prescribed probability. At long times, the tightest thresholds are proportional to the large deviation functions of stochastic entropy production. Our results, which entail an extension of martingale theory for entropy production, are tested with numerical simulations of a stochastic photoelectic device.