- #1
Iraides Belandria
- 55
- 0
Dear people of Physics Forums, I would like to have your opinion about the following problem: Suppose we are interested to evaluate the average efficiency ( e ) of an infinite series of carnot cycles. The temperature of the hot reservoir of each carnot Cycle of the series, Ta, is at 990K, but the cold reservoir of each cycle is at different temperatures ( Tb ) ranging from 295 K to 752K , in such a way that, the cold reservoir of the first carnot cycle is at 295 K and the cold reservoir of the last is at 752 K. ¿ What is the average efficiency of these series of Carnot cycles?. Now, we know that the efficiency of each Carnot cycle can be determined with the equation e= 1-Tb/Ta. Since we know the temperatures we can calculate the efficiency of each Carnot cycle of the series ranging from 295 to 752 K(e1, e2, e3, e4, e5, e6,e7.... ). ?How can we get the average efficiency from these set of individual values?. I notice that if I plot the efficiency of each Carnot Cycle versus Tb ( the cold resrvoir temperature of each cycle) I get an straight line. Then I applied the mean value theorem to get the average efficiency. I found that the average efficiency is 0.47. ? Is this procedure correct?.