The effect of heat-transfer law on performance of a two-heat-source endoreversible cycle

Abstract

In this paper it is shown that the optimal two-heat-source endoreversible cycle is the endoreversible Carnot cycle for a class of heat-transfer laws. The relation between optimal efficiency and power output of the cycle is derived. By use of this relation, we discuss the optimal performance of an endoreversible Carnot cycle for three common heat-transfer laws, and reveal the dependence of performance on the heat-transfer law and the heat-transfer coefficient. A number of new universal results are derived, and some major conclusions derived in several references are also deduced.