Thermodynamic Cycles

The concept of energetic transformation, which has already been dealt with in the previous chapters, is closely linked to thermodynamic cycles. These are discussed in further detail in this chapter. Basically, cyclic processes can be divided into clockwise and counterclockwise cycles. Both have in common that they operate between two temperature reservoirs. The tasks presented here address, on the one hand, thermal engines that partially convert a heat flux taken from the warm reservoir into mechanical work and release the unconverted part of the supplied thermal energy as heat to the cold reservoir. These processes are thermodynamically evaluated and usually described with a thermal efficiency. On the other hand, the tasks deal with cooling machines and heat pumps, respectively, that extract heat from the cold reservoir and transfer it to the warm reservoir while consuming mechanical work.