How Do Steam Temperature and Exhaust Temperature Affect Steam Engine Efficiency?

[scar123]

Homework Statement

Homework Equations

You are designing a steam engine and you want to make it as efficient as
possible in terms of the energy used to run it and the useful energy it can
produce. What do you want to maximize and minimize in terms of the
steam temperature and the exhaust temperature? (hint: Think Carnot Cycle)

The Attempt at a Solution

Maximize steam temperature / minimize exhaust temperature?

 

[marlon]

Suggestion : look more into detail at the different steps of a Carnot Cycle. Then, try to recognize these stadia in your steam engine. Finally, figure out why the Carnot cycle is "so efficient" and apply this knowledge onto your example here.

This is the way you should proceed. So, in your next post, you will have written the different stages of the Carnot cycle and you will have linked them to your steam engine. Then you will know what this engine actually is supposed to do and which process needs to be adapted to optimize the device.

marlon

 

[Moetasim]

In order to maximize the efficiency of a steam engine, we want to minimize the exhaust temperature and maximize the steam temperature. This is because the efficiency of a Carnot cycle, which is the theoretical maximum efficiency for a heat engine, is directly proportional to the temperature difference between the hot and cold reservoirs. In this case, the hot reservoir would be the steam temperature and the cold reservoir would be the exhaust temperature. Therefore, by maximizing the steam temperature and minimizing the exhaust temperature, we can achieve a higher efficiency for the steam engine. Additionally, by minimizing the exhaust temperature, we can also reduce the amount of wasted energy and increase the amount of useful energy produced by the engine.