Advantages of using a logarithmic scale in pressure-volume diagrams for Carnot and other heat engine cycles

Lih-Yir Shieh; Hung-Chih Kan

doi:10.1119/1.4860656

journal article Apr 01, 2014

Advantages of using a logarithmic scale in pressure-volume diagrams for Carnot and other heat engine cycles

Lih-Yir Shieh Hung-Chih Kan

American Journal of Physics Vol. 82 No. 4 pp. 306-310 · American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT)

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Abstract

We demonstrate that plotting the P-V diagram of an ideal gas Carnot cycle on a logarithmic scale results in a more intuitive approach for deriving the final form of the efficiency equation. The same approach also facilitates the derivation of the efficiency of other thermodynamic engines that employ adiabatic ideal gas processes, such as the Brayton cycle, the Otto cycle, and the Diesel engine. We finally demonstrate that logarithmic plots of isothermal and adiabatic processes help with visualization in approximating an arbitrary process in terms of an infinite number of Carnot cycles.

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Metrics

9

Citations

12

References

Details

Published: Apr 01, 2014
Vol/Issue: 82(4)
Pages: 306-310

Authors

L

Lih-Yir Shieh

Department of Physics , , 621 Chia-Yi, Taiwan, ROC; National Chung Cheng University , , 621 Chia-Yi, Taiwan, ROC

H

Hung-Chih Kan

Department of Physics , , 621 Chia-Yi, Taiwan, ROC; National Chung Cheng University , , 621 Chia-Yi, Taiwan, ROC

Cite This Article

Lih-Yir Shieh, Hung-Chih Kan (2014). Advantages of using a logarithmic scale in pressure-volume diagrams for Carnot and other heat engine cycles. American Journal of Physics, 82(4), 306-310. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4860656

Advantages of using a logarithmic scale in pressure-volume diagrams for Carnot and other heat engine cycles

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