Transformation of heat into mechanical energy by means of rotating systems

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^* Corresponding author: m-mesina@t-online.de

Abstract

All heat engines need two different temperatures for their work, T1<T2. The efficiency is limited by the Carnot formula from above. This article presents a new conception for heat engines. Unlike conventional heat engines, the working medium has an additional degree of freedom, the rotation around a given axis. The heat introduced and removed can not only lead to a change in the parameters of temperature, pressure, and volume, which are considered in conventional thermodynamics, but also to a change in the state of rotation. The rotational speed must also be taken into account in all phases of the cycle for all efficiency calculations. In many cases, this leads to a surprisingly different result from the results of conventional thermodynamics, that the efficiency of the cycle can exceed the Carnot limit. The efficiency values depend not only on temperatures and rotational speeds, but also on the material data. The proposed new type of heat engine makes it possible to better utilise very small temperature differences and under certain conditions, in combination with an ideal heat pump, to extract ambient heat and convert it into mechanical energy. The calculated results were presented for simple geometry and can easily be verified experimentally. In combination with an ideal heat pump, the proposed heat engine facilitates the surroundings to withdraw heat and convert it into mechanical work.