Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Apertet, Y
• Ouerdane, H
• Goupil, C
• Lecoeur, Ph

Titel

True nature of the Curzon-Ahlborn efficiency

Ist Teil von

• Physical review. E, 2017-08, Vol.96 (2-1), p.022119-022119, Article 022119

Ort / Verlag

United States

Erscheinungsjahr

2017

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The Curzon-Ahlborn efficiency has long served as the definite upper bound for the thermal efficiency at maximum output power, and has thus shaped the development of finite-time thermodynamics. In this paper, we repeal the ruling consensus according to which it has a genuine universal character that can be derived from linear irreversible thermodynamics. We demonstrate that the Curzon-Ahlborn efficiency should instead properly be associated with a particular case of nonlinear heat engines, and we derive a generalized expression for the efficiency at maximum power beyond the restrictive case of linear models.