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Vegeta
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I've calculated the efficiency of the Stirling cycle like
\eta=\frac{R(T_H-T_L)\ln\left(V_2/V_1\right)}{RT_H\ln\left(V_2/V_1\right)+C_{mV}(T_H-T_L)}
Where V_2>1. It's also derived http://www.pha.jhu.edu/~broholm/l39/node5.html" .
But my ("Highschool", or secondary school) teacher says that it can't be expressed that way, and is therefore wrong. Because she is considering how the Stirling engine works in practice. She says that because the heat that flows OUT of the system, from the isochoric proces, can be "stored" in some sort of heat storage device (the last animation here, called http://science.howstuffworks.com/stirling-engine.htm/printable" ), then you don't need to take the positive heat flow TO the system, into account, when calculating the efficiency. Because that energy is stored, and doesn't need to be heated from the fuel. By this way, the efficiency of the stirling cycle becomes \eta=1-T_C/T_H, i.e. the efficiency for the Carnot cycle.
But isn't it incorrect to consider the gas AND the "storage device" as one system, because there still is a heat flow (positive and negative) to the gas. Isn't it the heat flow to GAS that matters, when calculating the efficiency?!
And they've also derived that (the one above) formula for the efficiency of a stirling engine, in "Physics for Scientists and Engineers" By Fishbane, Gasiorowicz and Thornton, extended version.
But what is correct?
\eta=\frac{R(T_H-T_L)\ln\left(V_2/V_1\right)}{RT_H\ln\left(V_2/V_1\right)+C_{mV}(T_H-T_L)}
Where V_2>1. It's also derived http://www.pha.jhu.edu/~broholm/l39/node5.html" .
But my ("Highschool", or secondary school) teacher says that it can't be expressed that way, and is therefore wrong. Because she is considering how the Stirling engine works in practice. She says that because the heat that flows OUT of the system, from the isochoric proces, can be "stored" in some sort of heat storage device (the last animation here, called http://science.howstuffworks.com/stirling-engine.htm/printable" ), then you don't need to take the positive heat flow TO the system, into account, when calculating the efficiency. Because that energy is stored, and doesn't need to be heated from the fuel. By this way, the efficiency of the stirling cycle becomes \eta=1-T_C/T_H, i.e. the efficiency for the Carnot cycle.
But isn't it incorrect to consider the gas AND the "storage device" as one system, because there still is a heat flow (positive and negative) to the gas. Isn't it the heat flow to GAS that matters, when calculating the efficiency?!
And they've also derived that (the one above) formula for the efficiency of a stirling engine, in "Physics for Scientists and Engineers" By Fishbane, Gasiorowicz and Thornton, extended version.
But what is correct?
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