Optimal thermodynamics-new upperbounds

Abstract

This paper reviews how ideas have evolved in this field from the pioneering work of CARNOT right up to the present. The coupling of thermostatics with thermokinetics (heat and mass transfers) and entropy or exergy analysis is illustrated through study of thermomechanical engines such as the Carnot heat engine, and internal combustion engines. The benefits and importance of stagnation temperature and irreversibility parameters are underlined. The main situations of constrained (or unconstrained) optimization are defined, discussed and illustrated. The result of this study is a new branch of thermodynamics: Finite Dimensions Optimal Thermodynamics (FDOT). © 2009 by the authors; licensee Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, Switzerland.