Cumulative Heat and Work Energy
Figure 6 shows a graph of the alpha-type Stirling engine data, where 'Q' denotes heat energy, and 'W' denotes work energy. The blue dotted line shows the work output of the compression space. As the trace dips down, and work is done on the gas as it is compressed. During the expansion process of the cycle, some work is actually done on the compression piston, as reflected by the upward movement of the trace. At the end of the cycle, this value is negative, indicating that compression piston requires a net input of work. The blue solid line shows the heat flowing out of the cooler heat exchanger. Notice that the heat from the cooler and the work from the compression piston have the same cycle energy! This is consistent with the zero-net heat transfer of the regenerator (solid green line). As would be expected, the heater and the expansion space both have positive energy flow. The black dotted line shows the net work output of the cycle. On this trace, the cycle ends higher that it started, indicating that the heat engine converts energy from heat into work.
Read more about this topic: Stirling Cycle
Famous quotes containing the words cumulative, heat, work and/or energy:
“Raising children is an incredibly hard and risky business in which no cumulative wisdom is gained: each generation repeats the mistakes the previous one made.”
—Bill Cosby (20th century)
“Why does man freeze to death trying to reach the North Pole? Why does man drive himself to suffer the steam and heat of the Amazon? Why does he stagger his mind with the mathematics of the sky? Once the question mark has arisen in the human brain the answer must be found, if it takes a hundred years. A thousand years.”
—Walter Reisch (1903–1963)
“Work, as we usually think of it, is energy expended for a further end in view; play is energy expended for its own sake, as with children’s play, or as manifestation of the end or goal of work, as in “playing” chess or the piano. Play in this sense, then, is the fulfillment of work, the exhibition of what the work has been done for.”
—Northrop Frye (1912–1991)
“Parents find many different ways to work their way through the assertiveness of their two-year-olds, but seeing that assertiveness as positive energy being directed toward growth as a competent individual may open up some new possibilities.”
—Fred Rogers (20th century)