An irreversible cycle model of the Brayton heat engine is established, in which the irreversibilities resulting from the internal dissipation of the working substance in the adiabatic compression and expansion processes and the finite-rate heat transfer in the regenerative and constant-pressure processes are taken into account. The power output and efficiency of the cycle are expressed as functions of temperatures of the working substance and the heat sources, heat transfer coefficients, pressure ratio, regenerator effectiveness, and total heat transfer area including the heat transfer areas of the regenerator and other heat exchangers. The regenerative criteria are given. The power output is optimized for a given efficiency. The general optimal performance characteristics of the cycle are revealed. The optimal performance of the Brayton heat engines with and without regeneration is compared quantitatively. The advantages of using the regenerator are expounded. Some important parameters of an irreversible regenerative Brayton heat engine, such as the temperatures of the working substance at different states, pressure ratio, maximum value of the pressure ratio, regenerator effectiveness and ratios of the various heat transfer areas to the total heat transfer area of the cycle, are further optimized. The optimal relations between these parameters and the efficiency of the cycle are presented by a set of characteristic curves for some assumed compression and expansion efficiencies. The results obtained may be helpful to the comprehensive understanding of the optimal performance of the Brayton heat engines with and without regeneration and play a theoretical instructive role for the optimal design of a regenerative Brayton heat engine.
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September 2006
Research Papers
The Regenerative Criteria of an Irreversible Brayton Heat Engine and its General Optimum Performance Characteristics
Congjie Ou
Congjie Ou is a Ph.D. candidate of the Department of Physics, Xiamen University, People’s Republic of China. His research fields mainly include nonextensive statistical physics and modern thermodynamics. He has published several papers in international journals.
Congjie Ou
Department of Physics,
Xiamen University
, Xiamen 361005, People’s Republic of China
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Bihong Lin
Dr. Bihong Lin is a professor of the Department of Physics, Quanzhou Normal University, People’s Republic of China. He has published more than 50 papers in English and Chinese. His research fields mainly include modern thermodynamics, statistical physics, and wireless mobile communication.
Bihong Lin
Department of Physics,
Xiamen University
, Xiamen 361005, People’s Republic of China and Department of Physics, Quanzhou Normal University
, Quanzhou 362000, People’s Republic of China
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Jincan Chen
Dr. Jincan Chen is a professor of the Department of Physics, Xiamen University, People’s Republic of China. He has published more than 160 papers in 42 international journals and more than 80 papers in Chinese. His research fields mainly include analysis of endoreversible and irreversible heat engines and refrigerators, magnetic refrigeration theory, solar thermal power generation, multi-heat-source cycle theory, multi-stage combined cycle theory, ecological optimization on thermodynamic cycles, exergy analysis on thermodynamic cycles, semiconductor thermoelectric devices, Bose-Einstein condensation, nonextensive statistics, and so on.
Jincan Chen
Department of Physics,
e-mail: jcchen@xmu.edu.cn
Xiamen University
, Xiamen 361005, People’s Republic of China
Search for other works by this author on:
Congjie Ou
Congjie Ou is a Ph.D. candidate of the Department of Physics, Xiamen University, People’s Republic of China. His research fields mainly include nonextensive statistical physics and modern thermodynamics. He has published several papers in international journals.
Bihong Lin
Dr. Bihong Lin is a professor of the Department of Physics, Quanzhou Normal University, People’s Republic of China. He has published more than 50 papers in English and Chinese. His research fields mainly include modern thermodynamics, statistical physics, and wireless mobile communication.
Jincan Chen
Dr. Jincan Chen is a professor of the Department of Physics, Xiamen University, People’s Republic of China. He has published more than 160 papers in 42 international journals and more than 80 papers in Chinese. His research fields mainly include analysis of endoreversible and irreversible heat engines and refrigerators, magnetic refrigeration theory, solar thermal power generation, multi-heat-source cycle theory, multi-stage combined cycle theory, ecological optimization on thermodynamic cycles, exergy analysis on thermodynamic cycles, semiconductor thermoelectric devices, Bose-Einstein condensation, nonextensive statistics, and so on.
J. Energy Resour. Technol. Sep 2006, 128(3): 216-222 (7 pages)
Published Online: October 22, 2005
Article history
Received:
June 13, 2005
Revised:
October 22, 2005
