Thermodynamics

Part -4
Heat engines:
Heat engine is a device by which a system is made to undergo a cyclic process that results in
conversion of heat to work.
➢ It Converts heat energy into mechanical energy.
➢ A heat engine consists of three parts

(1) Source : It is a reservoir of heat at high temperature

and infinite thermal capacity. Any amount of heat can
be extracted from it.
(2) Working substance : Steam (steam engine),
diesel vapour +air (diesel engine)
Gasoline+air (gasoline engine)
(3) Sink : It is a reservoir of heat at low temperature
and infinite thermal capacity. Any amount of heat can
be given to the sink.
Heat engines:
The working substance goes through a cycle
consisting of several processes. In some of these
processes, it absorbs a total amount of heat Q1
from an external reservoir at some high
temperature T1.

In some other processes of the cycle, the working

substance releases a total amount of heat Q2 to an
external reservoir at some lower temperature T2.

The work done (W ) by the system in a cycle is

transferred to the environment via some
arrangement (e.g. the working substance may be in
a cylinder with a moving piston that transfers
mechanical energy to the wheels of a vehicle via a
shaft).

The cycle is repeated again and again to get useful work for some purpose.
Efficiency of a Heat Engine:

A perfect heat engine is one which converts all heat into

work i.e. W = Q1 so that Q2 = 0 and hence  = 1 .

But practically efficiency of an engine is always less than 1.

 HEAT PUMPS
A device that moves heat from a cooler reservoir to a warmer reservoir by means of work supplied
from some external source is called a heat pump.
A heat pump is basically a heat engine run in reverse direction.

The performance of a heat pump is expressed by means of

“coefficient of performance”  which is defined as the ratio of the
heat extracted from the cold body to the work needed to transfer it
to the hot body.

A perfect heat pump is one which transfers heat from cold to

hot body without doing work i.e. W = 0
so that Q1 = Q2 and hence  = 

Practically, the coefficient of performance cannot be infinite. Therefore, heat pump can’t work without
some external work done on the system, i.e.,
Refrigerators

• A refrigerator is also a form of a heat pump.

• It also moves heat from a cooler reservoir to a

warmer reservoir by means of work supplied
from some external source.

• It keeps food cold by pumping heat out of the

cooler interior of the refrigerator into the
warmer room.

• An electric motor or gas-powered engine does

the necessary work.
Relation between coefficient of performance and efficiency of refrigerator

Coefficient of performance
 Second Law of Thermodynamics

The second law of thermodynamics gives a fundamental limitation to the efficiency of a

heat engine and the coefficient of performance of a refrigerator.

Clausius statement :
It is impossible for a self acting machine to transfer heat from a
colder body to a hotter one without the aid of an external agency.

Kelvin’s Statement :
It is impossible to obtain a continuous supply of work from a body
by cooling it to a temperature below the coldest of its surroundings.

Kelvin-Planck’s statement :
It is impossible to design an engine that extracts heat and fully
utilizes into work without producing any other effect.

All these statements are equivalent as one can be obtained from the other.
Put simply, the Second Law implies that no heat engine can have efficiency  equal to
1 or no refrigerator can have co-efficient of performance a equal to infinity.
 Reversible and Irreversible Processes

• Reversible Process
A process which could be reserved in such a way that the system and its surrounding returns exactly
to their initial states with no other changes in the universe is known as reversible process.
• The conditions for reversibility are
(i) There must be complete absence of dissipative forces such as friction, viscosity, electric resistance etc.
(ii) The direct and reverse processes must take place infinitely slowly.
(iii) The temperature of the system must not differ appreciably from its surroundings.

• Irreversible Process
Any process which is not reversible exactly is an irreversible process.
• All natural processes such as conduction, radiation, radioactive decay etc. are irreversible. All practical
processes such as free expansion, Joule-Thomson expansion, electrical heating of a wire are also irreversible.
Carnot’s cycle
Carnot designed a theoretical engine which is free
from all the defects of a practical engine.
This engine cannot be realised in actual practice,
however, this can be taken as a standard against
which the performance of an actual engine can be
judged.

It consists of the following parts

(i) A cylinder with perfectly non-conducting walls and a perfectly
conducting base containing a perfect gas as working substance and fitted with a non-conducting frictionless
piston
(ii) A source of infinite thermal capacity maintained at constant higher temperature T1.
(iii) A sink of infinite thermal capacity maintained at constant lower temperature T2.
(iv) A perfectly non-conducting stand for the cylinder.
Carnot cycle : steps
Step 1: Isothermal expansion (1 → 2)
1
(P1, V1, T1) → (P2, V2, T1) , heat absorbed =Q1
2

Step 2: Adiabatic expansion (2 → 3) 3

(P2, V2, T1) → (P3, V3, T2) , heat absorbed=0

Carnot cycle : steps
Step 1: Isothermal compression (3 → 4)
(P3, V3, T2) → (P4, V4, T2) , heat released =Q2 1

Step 2: Adiabatic compression (4 → 1) 4

(P4, V4, T2) → (P1, V1, T1) , heat absorbed=0 3

Carnot cycle : steps
Now since step 2 → 3 is an adiabatic process,

2
Similarly, since step 4 → 1 is an adiabatic process
4

  In a Carnot cycle,
 Free expansion
Free expansion is adiabatic process in which
no work is performed on or by the system.
Consider two vessels placed in a system
which is enclosed with thermal insulation
(asbestos-covered).

One vessel contains a gas and the other is

evacuated. When suddenly the stopcock is
opened, the gas rushes into the evacuated
vessel and expands freely.
W = 0 (Because walls are rigid)
Q = 0 (Because walls are insulated)
U = Uf – Ui = 0
(Because Q and W are zero. Thus the final and
initial energies are equal in free expansion.