THE HISTORY OF NICE RADICAL AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN THE OPTIMIZATION OF MECHANICAL WORK OR POWER OUTPUT OF REVERSIBLE AND IRREVERSIBLE CYCLES

Autor/autori: Alexandru CHISACOF, Stoian PETRESCU, Bogdan BORCILA, Monica COSTEA


Abstract: The starting point of Thermodynamics in Finite Time development can be considered the work of Curzon and Ahlborn published in 1975 where the ‘nice radical’ appeared as the efficiency of a Carnot cycle with only external irrevesibilities. After that, the same nice radical was discovered in the works of Chambadal (1957) and then Novikov (1958), and more recently, we have found it in Moutier’s work published in 1872, which means it already has a respectable age. In all these approaches, the cycle optimization aimed to Maximize the Work per cycle, or the Power Output of the engine (cycle). This paper presents the Origin and Utilization of the Nice Radical only for reversible cycles as Moutier did in 1872, and emphasizes the differences compared to the ‘nice radical’ from Curzon and Ahlborn paper, respectively the corrected one including the finite speed irreversibilities, introduced later by Petrescu, Harman and Bejan.

Keywords: nice radical; optimization; maximum mechanical work; reversible cycle

 

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