Stoian PETRESCU, Charles HARMAN, Adrian BEJAN, Monica COSTEA, Catalina DOBRE

CARNOT CYCLE WITH EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL

IRREVERSIBILITIES ANALYZED
IN THERMODYNAMICS WITH FINITE SPEED
WITH THE DIRECT METHOD
Stoian PETRESCU1, Charles HARMAN2, Adrian BEJAN2,
Monica COSTEA1, Catalina DOBRE1

1
UNIVERSITY POLITEHNICA OF BUCHAREST,
DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING THERMODYNAMICS
2
DUKE UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, DURHAM, U.S.A.

Rezumat. Se analizează un ciclu Carnot direct cu ireversibilităţi externe (datorate diferenţelor de temperaturi la surse),
cât şi cu ireversibilităţi interne (datorate vitezei finite). Ciclul ireversibil Carnot este reprezentat într-o diagramă T-S
originală, unde se evidenţiază lucrul mecanic pierdut (exergia) din cauza diverselor ireversibilităţi, generate în timpul
funcţionării maşinii cu viteză finită. Se dezvoltă o metodă de calcul analitic (numită Metoda Directă din Termodinamica
cu Viteză Finită) cu ajutorul căreia se evidenţiază efectul pe care îl are viteza pistonului în cadrul ireversibilităţilor
interne, asupra performanţelor maşinii (randament şi putere, exprimate analitic ca funcţie de viteză). Se prezintă un
exemplu de rezultate pentru o serie de valori ale vitezei unui ciclu Carnot, caracterizat de o temperatură ridicată, la sursa
caldă (2000 K). Se determină expresia analitică a temperaturii optime necesare obţinerii unui randament maxim al
ciclului Carnot, în funcţie de viteza pistonului. Exemplul este dezvoltat şi în scopul determinării unei temperaturi
optime, necesare obţinerii unei puteri maxime a ciclului Carnot, într-un anumit interval de valori ale vitezei pistonului.
Cuvinte-cheie: ciclu Carnot ireversibil, ireversibilităţi interne şi externe, Termodicnamica cu Viteză Finită, optimizarea
temperaturii, optimizarea vitezei, generarea entropiei, randamentul ireversibilităţii, Metoda Directă.

Abstract. A Carnot engine operating on a closed cycle and having both external and internal irreversibilities is
analyzed. The internal irreversibilities are caused by losses generate by finite piston speed and the external
irreversibilities are caused by heat transfer through a temperature difference. The irreversible Carnot cycle is displayed
on a original T-S property coordinates in a manner that accurately illustrates the lost work (Exergy losses) due to the
irreversibilities (internal and external). A method for calculating the effect of the piston speed on the internal
irreversibilities of Carnot cycle is developed and an example of the results is shown for a range of values of cycle high
temperature (2000 K). Using the results of this example, the optimal Carnot engine efficiency is determined as a
function of piston speed. The example is extended to include the determination of the optimal system temperature for
Maximum Carnot engine power over a range of piston speeds.
Keywords: irreversible Carnot cycle, internal and external irreversibilities, Finite Speed Thermodynamics, temperature
optimization, speed optimization, entropy generation, Second Law Efficiency, Direct Method.

1. INTRODUCTION and external irrevesibilities. That paper was based

Much has been written about the Carnot cycle,
both with and without external irreversibilities [1-
5]. However, only in the ‘90s attention focused on
analysis of the Carnot cycle that also includes in-
ternal irreversibilities [6-8]. In 1994 an extremely
important paper [9] has been presented at Florence
World Energy Research Symposium, Energy for
the 21st Century: Conversion, Utilization and
Environmental Quality, Firenze, Italy. That paper
had a very important role in the development of
Thermodynamics with Finite Speed (TFS) and the
Direct Method, for analytical evaluation of the
performances of irreversible cycles with internal
on a previous one [8], which actually opened a
series of papers [10-20] regarding the analysis of
irreversible Carnot cycle with finite speed, which
contributed essentially to the development of
Thermodynamics with Finite Speed and the Direct
Method [21-23] up to the maximum performance
of it - which is the validation for 12 Stiling engines
operating in 16 regimes [24].
The present analysis is based on papers [8] and
[9]. Here we want to show the impact they had on
the development of Engineering Irreversible
Thermodynamics which today goes in the direction
of unification of Thermodynamics in Finite Time
with Thermodynamic with Finite Speed [23].

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The Carnot cycle with no internal or external
irreversibilities is shown on temperature - entropy
(T-S) coordinates in Figure 1 as the area bounded
by the path 1’-2’-3’-4’-1’ where the temperature of
the heat source is TH and the temperature of the
heat sink is TC.
T The lost available work in a process may also
2' 3'
TH
 TH
3
2
1 4
 TC
TC
1' 4'
S total heat transfer and, since no loss of energy is
Fig. 1. Carnot Cycle with External Irreversibilities
(Endoreversible).
Superimposed on this diagram is a Carnot cycle
operating between the same heat source and sink
temperatures but with external irreversibilities.
This externally irreversible Carnot cycle is bounded
by the path 1-2-3-4-1. The crosshatched area
bounded by the path 1’-1-4-4’-1 is proportional to
the lost available work in the process of the heat
transfer through the finite temperature difference
TC . However, the crosshatched area bounded by
the path 2-2’-3’-3-2 in this diagram does not directly
represent the lost available work in the heat transfer
through the finite temperature difference TH .
This is a shortcoming of presenting the processes
as shown in Fig. 1.
2. AN EXERGETICAL CORRECT T-S
DIAGRAM
be termed, by definition, the lost exergy. Fig. 2
shows an internally reversible but externally
irreversible Carnot cycle that receives heat QH
from a source at temperature TH. The heat is
transferred through a finite temperature difference
TH to the temperature of the working fluid of the
cycle, TH ,g . This irreversible heat transfer causes
an entropy increase of the cycle fluid S2”-S2. The
area bounded by c-1-2-b-c is proportional to the
assumed, this area must equal the area bounded by
c-1’-2”-a-c. Since the area c-1’-2’-b-c is contained
in both these area, the net areas 1’-1-2-2’-1’ and b-
2’-2”-a-b must be equal. Stated differently,
TH S12  TH , g S1' 2" and the available work lost in
the heat transfer process, QH  Q'H is converted to
heat Q2' 2" .
This is the lost work generated by the external
irreversibility of the heat transfer through a
temperature difference. A T-S diagram presented
as in Fig. 2 shows the losses in direct proportion,
allowing for a more accurate assessment of their
relative importance.

T K 
QH  Q12  Q'H  Q"H  Q1' 2'  Q2' 2''
TH 1 2
W LOST APPARENTLY

WCOMMON TO BOTH CYCLES

W PRODUCED IN THE NEW CYCLE  IREEVERSIBLE

Q'H Q"H
REVERSIBLE CYCLE ANERGY  Q'L  Q 3' 4'
1' 2' 2"
TH ,g  irr  TH  LOST IN THE NEW CYCLE  Q"L  Q3" 3'

Q'L Q"L
T0 4'
QL  Q3"4'  Q'L  Q"L  Q3' 4'  Q3' 3''
3' 3"

c b a S J / K
 S 12  S 2 ' 2 ''
S1' 2''  S2"  S1'
Fig. 2. Internally Reversible Carnot Cycle with External Irreversibilities.

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The T-S diagram of Fig. 2 is scaled to provide a
numerical example. In this example, 20.000 units
of heat are supplied by the source at the
temperature of 2000K. The engine receives this
heat at 900K and rejects heat to sink at 300K. The
entropy decrease of the source can be seen to be 10
units/K and the entropy increase during the heat
addition process in he Carnot cycle is 20.000
units/900 K or 22.2 units/K. The external
irreversibility is then 12.2 units/K. The external
irreversibility is shown to produce
T0 S 2' 2"  300K×12.2 units/K
 3666 units of anergy
A Carnot cycle engine may operate with external
irreversibilities in both the heat addition and the heat
rejection processes and, in addition, may have
internal irreversibility during the adiabatic expansion
process.
The T-S diagram for a cycle operating with these
irreversibilities is shown in Fig. 3. The cycle shown
in this diagram has the same amount of heat
transferred from the source as given in Fig. 2. How-
ever, the cycle is altered to include a low temperature
of 320 K for the cycle fluid and the area resulting
from the loss due to the heat transfer through a
temperature difference of 20 K to the 300 K sink
temperature,  irrTC is shown. This area, 3-4-3”-e-3
is small compared with the area representing the loss
due to heat transfer to the system because of the
relatively small temperature difference through which
the heat is transferred. Nevertheless, these tem-
perature differences provide a realistic comparison in
practical application such as, for example, a vapor
cycle receiving heat from combustion gases and
rejecting heat in a condenser that uses cooling water
from the environment.
The effect of the internal irreversibility during the
adiabatic expansion process is shown in Fig. 3 with
"
the expansion end point at 3irr . The adiabatic irrever-
sibility causes an increase in entropy and produces
the anergy  ad .irr . exp , shown as the area bounded by
a-e-f-d-a in Fig. 3. An area equivalent to area
 ad .irr . exp could be plotted as the area bounded by
3”’-2”’-2”-3”-3”’ in Fig. 3. This clearly illustrates the
loss of work due to the irreversible adiabatic
expansion relative to the net remaining work.
The T-S diagram is scaled to illustrate the loss due
to irreversible heat transfer from the cold tempe-
rature of the cycle TC to the sink temperature T0 .
The loss = TC - T0 S ac  20  22.5  450 units
of anergy.

T K 
QH  Q12 Heat source temperatureTH
2000

1900 1 2
1800

1700 QH  Q'H  Wlost

1600

1500
TH  1100 K
1400

1300
Wlost  Q2' 2"
1200
1100 Q'H
1000
1' 2' 2'" 2" Vapor temperatureTH ,g
900

800  Adiabatic irreversible

700 Wirr .ext .TH ,TC expansion
600  Vapor temperature T

500 C ,g
 irr .T Wirr .ext  int
400 C
3'" 3"irr
4 3" TC  20K
300
3 3' e f
200 Water temperature
An QH  irr .TH ad.irr.exp
100
c b a
S J K 
0

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Fig. 3. Externally and internally irreversible Carnot cycle.

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Likewise the loss in the irreversible adiabatic  aw 

2

expansion for an adiabatic efficiency of 90 percent 1   2

 c1   aw  aw  
is TC - T0 S ad  300  4.5  1350 units of anergy. irr .cpr  2
  1  1   (4)
 aw   c1  c2  
The irreversible adiabatic compression is not shown 1  
 c2 
in Fig. 3 in the interest of diagram simplicity and
because it parallels the analysis for an irreversible or more simple:
adiabatic expansion. For example, an adiabatic 2
compression efficiency of 90 percent would also  aw aw a 2 w2 
irr .cpr  1     (5)
result in an entropy increase of 4.5 units and a  c1 c2 c1c2 
1350 units increase in anergy.
In the case a 2 w 2  c1c2 the last term could be
3. OPTIMISATION ANALYSIS FOR A neglected in comparison to the others, so:
CARNOT ENGINE WITH INTERNAL
AND EXTERNAL IRREVERSIBILITIES 2
 aw aw 
irr .cpr  1    (6)
A closed cycle Carnot engine is modeled  c1 c2 
analytically and is shown T-S coordinates in Fig. 4.
The engine has external irreversibility due to heat but: c1  3 RT1 and c2  3 RT2 .
transfer from the source at fixed temperature, TH , to With a first approximation for T2 from
the cycle high temperature, T X , during the adiabatic reversible compression we get:
isothermal heat addition process 2-3. It has internal k 1
k 1
V  V  2
irreversibilities due to finite piston speed during only T2  T1  1  c2   1 
the adiabatic compression and expansion processes.  V2   V2 
k 1
(7)
The sink temperature and the cycle low temperature V  2
3RT1  c1  1 
are the same. This temperature, T0 , is fixed but the  V2 
cycle high temperature T X , is a variable parameter. Introducing c2 in  irr .cpr , we get a first approxi-
The irreversible adiabatic compression and mation for it:
expansion processes are modeled using an 2
 k 1

expression for the first law of thermodynamics for  
aw aw V2 2  
processes at finite speed [9-16]: irr .cpr  1    (8)
 c1 c1  V1  
 aw   
dU  δQirr  pi  1   dV (1)
 c  For a better approximation we can now compute
aw T2 from the equation of irreversible adiabatic com-
with: the contribution of finite speed ( a  3k ;
c pression:
k 1
c  3 RT ); pi – instantaneous average pressure. V 
The equations for adiabatic irreversible processes T2  irr .cprT1  1  (9)
 V2 
of ideal gases with constant specific heat are k 1
obtained upon setting δQ equal to zero in eq. (1) V  1
 
2
and integrating [25, 26-31]: c'2  3RT2   1  irr .cpr
2 3RT1 (10)
 V2 
2 2
 aw  k 1  aw  k 1 Introducing now the value c'2 from eq. (10) in
T2  1   V2  T1 1   V1 (2)
 c2   c1 
eq. (6) we get a better approximation for  irr .cpr :
From this equation T2 could be expressed as: 2
 k 1
1
aw aw  V2  2

 
 
 aw 
2
'irr.cpr  1    irr .cpr 2 (11)
1   k 1 k 1
 c1 c1  V1  
T2  
c1   V1 
T
2 1    T
 V1 
irr 1   (3)  
 aw   V2   V2  where  irr .cpr is given by eq. (8).
1  
 c2 
Now we will use this result for computation of
For a compression process with finite speed entropy variation in the case of an adiabatic
w  c , we could express  irr .cpr as following: irreversible process of compression with finite

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speed. Because entropy is a function of state only, And for the expansion process 3-4, eq. (18)
we can express it with the well known formula: becomes:
Tf Vf  k 1

2
S  S f  Si  mcv ln  mRln (12) aw aw  
Ti Vi w  exp exp V 2

Sad  mcvln 1    
4
c3  V3  
.irr.exp
From eq. (3): c3
 
k 1
T2 V 
.irr .exp  S34  mcv ln   2 
w
 irr  1  (13) S ad (20)
T1  V2 
R For the isothermal process 2-3, eq. (12) becomes:
With (13) in (12) and knowing that cv  p
k 1 S 23  S3  S 2  mRln 2 (21)
for perfect gas: p3
k 1 The actual thermal efficiency of a Carnot cycle
R V  V2 engine with irreversibilities is:
Sirr  mcvlnirr  m ln  1   mRln
k  1  V2  V1
QC T S
act  1   1  C 14 
The last two terms will be cancelled, and we get QH TX S 23
finally: (22)
T  S23  S12  S34 
 1 0
S irr  mcv ln  irr (14) TX S23
In this expression we can use either eq. (11) or Upon substitution of the expression for the
eq. (8), depending of the degree of approximation entropy changes from eq. (19), (20) and (21) and
we need. So, in a first approximation, with  irr noting the R  cv / k  1 , the efficiency of the
from eq. (8), we get: irreversible Carnot cycle shown in Fig. 4 becomes:
2
 k 1

 aw aw  V   
   (15)
2
S irr.cpr  mcv ln 1   2
 c1 c1  V1   T  2 ln 1 2  
   act  1  0 1   (23)
TX  p 
In a similar manner we can show that for an  k  1 ln 2 
 p3 
adiabatic and irreversible expansion  irr . exp is:
2 When the piston speed is much less than the
 k 1

 aw aw  V  2
 speed of sound in the gas or when awcpr  c1 and
irr .exp  1   
2
(16)
 c1 c1  V1   awexp  c3 eq. (23) may be simplified to:
 
and:  
2 T  2 1   2  
 k 1
  act  1  0 1  (24)
 aw aw  V2  2  TX 
k  1 ln 2 
Sirr .exp  mcv ln 1   (17) p
  
c1 c1  V1   
 p3 
 
We now could combine the eq. (15) and eq. aw  T 
with: 1  cpr  1  0 
(17) in the following form: c1  TX 
2
 k 1
 aw  T 
w  aw aw  V  2
 (18) and:  2  exp  X  1  .
S ad .irr  mcv ln 1    
2
 c1 c1  V1   c3  T0 
 
where the upper sign indicates compression and When the piston speed during compression and
the lower sign indicates expansion. For the com- expansion is the same, eq. (24) simplifies to:
pression process 1-2, eq. (18) becomes:
2   
   1  T0  
k 1

 awcpr awcpr  V2  2   
w
S ad  mcv ln 1     T0  4 aw  TX  
.irr .cpr  c1 c1  V1    act 1 1   (25)
  TX  c1
k  1ln p2 
 p3 
.irr .cpr  S12  mcv ln  1 
w
S ad (19)  

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The actual rate of doing work or power output determined using air as the cycle fluid and the
of the cycle, assuming that heat transfer is results are plotted in Fig. 5 over a range in TX
generated by a finite T  TH  T X , is: from 300 K to 2000 K and for w from 0 to 50 m/s.

W act  Q H  act  KATH  T X  act (26) T K 

QH  Qab
where: K is the overall heat transfer coefficient and TH a b

A is the heat transfer area.    ir .exp

The following terms are defined:
 Non– dimensional power:    ir .cpr
 act Q23  Qab  KATH
W
PND  (27) 2 3
KATH TX
 Carnot reversible efficiency: T0
1 4
 T  Q41
CC  1  0  (28) 0 10 20 30 40 S
 TX 
 and an irreversibility coefficient: Fig. 4. Internal ireversibilities.

 T   This figure shows that the irreversibility

 C 0   coefficient decreases with increased piston speed,
wIIad .irr  1   TX   (29) as expected, and that the irreversibility coeficient
  decreases more rapidly with piston speed at lower
 1  T0  
  TX   cycle high temperatures. The internal irrever-
sibilities are shown to be more important when the
4aw irreversible cycle efficiency is lower.
where: C (30)
p
c1  k  1 ln 2
p3
Upon substitution eqs. (25), (26), (28)-(29) into
eq. (27) one gets:
 T 
PND   1  X  CC wIIad .irr (31)
 TH 
Equation (31) may also be written:
 T  T 
PND   1  X  1  0  (32)
 TH  TX  
1
where:  (33)
 T 
1  C 1  0  Fig. 5. The influence of the piston speed and the temperature
 TX  on the irreversible coefficient.

4. RESULTS OF OPTIMISATION The non-dimensional power as determined

OF AN IRREVERSIBLE CARNOT CYCLE
ENGINE
The non-dimensional power will be optimized
using the results of the above analysis applied to a
Carnot engine operating on the cycle shown in Fig. 4.
The irreversibility coefficient,  II for a given cycle
fluid, depends only on the cycle high temperature,
TX , and the piston speed, w. Its value has been
from eq. (32) is shown in Fig. 6 as a function of the
cycle high temperature and piston speed. The
reversible Carnot efficiency is shown for
comparison purposes.
The non-dimensional power is seen to have a
maximum value for any fixed piston speed or
internal irreversibility and this maximum occurs at
increasingly higher temperatures TX as the piston
speed or internal irreversibility increases.

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 Stoian PETRESCU, Charles HARMAN, Adrian BEJAN, Monica COSTEA, Catalina DOBRE
Fig. 6. The non-dimensional power as a function of the cycle
high temperature and piston speed w.
Also, these maximum values decrease with in-
creased piston speed. The optimum temperature,
Topt , is shown in Fig. 7 as a function of piston speed.
Fig. 7. The effect of piston speed on optimum temperature.
The parameter  is shown as a function of
TX and w in Fig. 8.
The value of  is seen to change little in the
region of optimal temperatures (from 800 K to
1000 K).
Fig. 8. The influence of TX and piston speed w on parameter  .
TERMOTEHNICA 2/2011
Therefore, as a first approximation,  in eq. (32)
is assumed constant in seeking an analytic expression
for the optimum temperature to maximize the non-
dimensional power. This approach is necessary
because the maximization equation for PND using
eq. (27) is analytically intractable. Ibrahim [6] has
shown that with  constant, the value of TX that
maximizes the power expressed by eq. (32) is:
TH T0
TX  Topt  (34)

Although this is a simple expression, the value
of  is not known. However, an iterative method
is available to approximate the value of Topt .
The value of Topt is approximated by first con-
sidering the case where the speed is zero (w = 0).
When w = 0,   1 from eq. (33) and the cycle
is internally reversible and externally irrever-
sible. This reduces equation (34) to:
Topt  TH T0 (35)
If equation (35) is substituted into eq. (33), the
result, after re-arrangement of terms, is:
1
  T 
 w  1  C 1  4 0   (36)
  TH  
Upon substitution of eq. (36) in the expression
of Topt from eq. (34) one gets:
( w 0 )
  T 
Topt  TH T0 1  C 1  4 0   (37)
  TH  
This new optimum value of the temperature is
the first approximation of the temperature to
maximize the non-dimensional power when the
piston speed is not zero and when therefore both
internal and external irreversibilities are accounted
for. Values of Topt were obtained graphically as
illustrated in Fig. 9.
Comparison of the results of the two methods
shows good agreement and lends confidence that a
first iteration provides sufficiently accurate results
for most purposes. However, it is possible to
improve the accuracy of the results by making a
second iteration.
An improved approximation can be made by
using the value of Topt , as obtained by means of
eq. (37), instead of TX in eq. (33).
13
CARNOT CYCLE WITH EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL IRREVERSIBILITIES ANALYZED IN THERMODYNAMICS

  
  
T0  T0  
act  1 1  C 1  (42)
TH T0 TH T0  
   
'w   'w  
  
Eq. (42) after rearrangement:

T0   T ' 
act  1  'w 1  C 1  4 0 w  (43)
TH T0   TH 
 
'w
The efficiency of an internally reversible, ex-
ternally irreversible Carnot cycle is (Curzon-Ahlborn
Fig. 9. Graphical determination of optimal [2] expression):
temperature.
T0
CA  1  (44)
When this is done eq. (33) becomes: TH
1
  T0  This occurs when no internal irreversibility due
'w  1  C  1   (38) to the piston speed (w = 0) exists and, therefore
  Toptw0 )
( 
  'w  1 . When internal irreversibility exists, piston
Eq. (38) can be rearranged to have the follow- speed w  0 , eq. (44) may be modified as follows:
ing form:
T0
1 act  1  w (45)
  T  TH
'w  1  C  1  4 0 w   (39)
  TH   where  w  1 and depends on the piston speed.
Noting eq. (43) and eq. (45)
When the effect of piston speed w is included,
eq. (34) becomes:   T ' 
 w  'w 1  C 1  4 0 w  (46)
  TH 
' TH T0  
Topt( w 0 )  (40)
'w
5. THE IMPACT OF THE CARNOT CYCLE
Substitution of eq. (39) into eq. (40) results in a WITH EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL
' IRREVERSIBILITIES ANALISYS ON THE
more accurate approximation of the value of Topt ,w . DEVELOPMENT OF THERMODYNAMICS
Further refinement to increase accuracy beyond WITH FINITE SPEED AND THE DIRECT
this second approximation is possible but is METHOD, AND TENDENCY OF
unlikely to be warranted in most applications. “UNIFICATION” BETWEEN TFT AND TFS
The maximized power can now be calculated for A recent book [23] explains the origins of paper
the internally irreversible Carnot engine with [9], its impact on the Development of Thermodyna-
Topt ( w0 ) . It is evaluated using eq. (37) or eq. (40) mics with Finite Speed and the present tendency of
unification between Thermodynamics with Finite
and substituted for T X in eq. (32). The results in Time and Thermodynamics with Finite Speed. The
terms of the non-dimensional power is: work on paper [9] was the beginning of
cooperation with Charles Harman for 20 years. He
 Topt
'
 w 0 
 T 
PND ,max  1   1  ' ' 0  (41) contributed in so many papers and books published
 TH   wTopt w0   together with many co-workers (from Romania:
  
G. Stanescu, M. Costea, T. Florea, C. Petre, O.
Similarly, the efficiency of the Carnot cycle may Malancioiu, G. Popescu, N. Boriaru, V. Petrescu,
be calculated by substituting Topt ( w0 ) from eq. and from France: M. Feidt) to the Development of
Thermodynamics with Finite Speed and the
(40) into eq. (25), resulting in: Direct Method [23-44].

14 TERMOTEHNICA 2/2011
 Stoian PETRESCU, Charles HARMAN, Adrian BEJAN, Monica COSTEA, Catalina DOBRE
Actually, the year 2011 marked 50 years from
the beginning of Thermodynamics with Finite
Speed (TFS), in which the Direct Method was
invented [21-23] and then validated [31, 32].
Everybody entering in this field of research is
asking: “what is it the Direct Method, how to use it
and what do we get from it”? A very synthetic
answer is: “we get analytical expressions for Effi-
ciency and Power (as function of speed), which are
of course very useful for Optimization and better
Design of Thermal Machines. Getting such new
tools for better design was and should be the main
objective of any “new branch” of Irreversible
Thermodynamics.”
As the present analysis has shown, the first step
of the “unification” of TFT and TFS process already
started [9] with the correction of the famous formula
of Curzon-Ahlborn, where the “nice radical”
appears in the Carnot Cycle Efficiency like in eq.
(44), with the optimum temperature of the gas, eq.
(34). As it is very well known, these formulas take
into account only external irrevesibilities. Based
on the Fundamental Equation of TFS – First Law
for Processes with Finite Speed – “analytical
corrections” in these formulas, taking into account
internal irreversibilities generated by the Finite Speed
of the piston, w, in addition to the external ones were
made here, obtaining the following equations:
 for Carnot Efficiency with external and
internal ireversibilities generated by finite speed w,
eq. (25).
 for optimum temperature, where the internal
irreversibility, generated by finite speed w is taken
into account, in adition to the external
irreversibilities, eq. (37).
A second step of the “unification” process [12,
23], did a comparison between TFS and TFT
approaches of a Carnot cycle emphasizing that
TFS can take into account both irrevesibilities,
using its fundamental equations and the Direct
Method. Hence, the critics of Gyftopulous [45] and
Moran [46, 47] will not apply to any papers in TFS
where we did take into account both internal and
external irreversibilities.
More recently the “unification” between TFS
and TFT continued with 5 very important papers
for this process and also for recognition of the
Direct Method from TFS “Power” [16-20].
In these new developments, the equation of the
First Law for Processes with Finite Speed, (from
TFS), together with the Direct Method play an
essential role, and they are the “success guaranty”,
because only starting with fundamentals (under-
standing irreversibility mechanisms), and expressing
them quantitatively in fundamental equations can
finally conduct to validation. Also, the large
applicability field of TFS and the Direct Method,
TERMOTEHNICA 2/2011
from the classical Stirling engines [31, 43, 48, 49,
51, 52], solar Stirling motors [50, 53, 54, 56, 58],
Stirling refrigeration and Stirling heat pumps [40],
to Otto cycle [38], Diesel Cycle [39], Carnot direct
cycle [9, 11, 12, 44, 48], Carnot refrigeration cycle
[49], Otto-Stirling hybrid cycle [55, 57, 58] and
Brayton cycle was emphasized [16-20]. For 12 of
the most performing Stirling engines (working in
16 operating regimes) [31], for 5 (the most
performing) solar Stirling motors [50, 54, 56] and
for a refrigeration Stirling machine [59, 60] the
computation schemes developed based on the
Direct Method were validated.
We hope that Thermodynamics with Finite
Speed is an important step toward the development
of a more powerful “Engineering Irreversible Ther-
modynamics”, which could be a synthesis (or
“unification”) between Thermodynamics with Finite
Speed and Thermodynamics in Finite Time.
6. CONCLUSIONS
Analysis and optimization approach of an
irreversible Carnot engine operating on a closed
cycle have been presented.
Equations have been developed for the
internally and externally irreversible Carnot cycle.
The internal irreversibility has been related to finite
piston speed. The Curzon-Ahlborn expression for
the externally irreversible Carnot cycle was modified
in order to include also internal irreversibility.
Equations for the optimum cycle temperature,
maximum power, and efficiency for the internally
and externally irreversible cycle are presented. The
corrections are shown to increase with increased
piston speed and to be significant at high but
realizable piston speeds. The optimum temperature
corresponding to maximum power is shown to
increase with increased piston speed.
The impact of these achievements on the
Development of Thermodynamics with Finite Speed
and on the present tendency of “unification“ between
Thermodynamics with Finite Time and Thermodyna-
mics with Finite Speed is discussed.
NOMENCLATURE
A Area [m2]
a Coefficient
c Average molecular speed [m s-1]
cv Specific heat at V = ct [J kg-1 s-1]
K Overall heat transfer coefficient [W m-2 K-1]
k Ratio of the specific heats
m Mass [kg]
p Pressure [Pa]
Q Heat [J]
R Gas constant [J kg-1 K-1]
S Entropy [J K-1]
T Temperature [K]
TFS Thermodynamics with Finite Speed
15
CARNOT CYCLE WITH EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL IRREVERSIBILITIES ANALYZED IN THERMODYNAMICS
TFT Thermodynamics with Finite Time
U Internal energy [J]
V Volume [m3]
W Work [J]
 on Efficiency, Cost, Optimization, Simulation and
W Power output [W]
w Piston speed [m s-1]
Subscripts
act Actual irr Irreversible
ad Adiabatic ND Non-dimensional
opt Optimum
cpr Compression
w Due to the piston speed
C Cold
X Related to the gas at the
CA Curzon-Ahlborn
source
exp Expansion
0 Ambient
H Related to the source
H,g, Related to the gas at
the source
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Acknowledgements
The work has been funded by the Sectorial
Operational Programme Human Resources Develop-
ment 2007-2013 of the Romanian Ministry of Labour,
Family and Social Protection through the Financial
Agreement POSDRU/88/1.5/S/60203.
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