Cycles

Heat engines: Carnot’s bound, the idealized cycles of real engines and power plants analysed state by state.

Carnot’s Réflexions: no engine beats the reversible one (1824)

Carnot's Réflexions: no engine beats the reversible one (1824)

Rankine’s steam cycle (1859)

Rankine's steam cycle (1859)

Brayton’s constant-pressure cycle (1872)

Brayton's constant-pressure cycle (1872)

Otto’s four-stroke cycle (1876)

Otto's four-stroke cycle (1876)

Diesel’s compression-ignition cycle (1893)

Diesel's compression-ignition cycle (1893)

Curzon and Ahlborn: efficiency at maximum power (1975)

Curzon and Ahlborn: efficiency at maximum power (1975)

Stirling’s regenerator (1816)

Stirling's regenerator (1816)

Rankine’s cycle with reheat and feedwater heating (1859)

Rankine's cycle with reheat and feedwater heating (1859)

Brayton’s cycle with regeneration, intercooling and reheat (1872)

Brayton's cycle with regeneration, intercooling and reheat (1872)

Diesel’s cycle and the dual cycle (1893)

Diesel's cycle and the dual cycle (1893)