Irreversibilities and efficiency at maximum power of heat engines: illustrative case of a thermoelectric generator

Abstract

Thermoelectric generators are particularly suitable to investigate the irreversible processes which govern the coupled transport of matter and heat in solid-state systems. We study the efficiency at maximum power in the strong coupling regime, where the thermal flux is proportionnal to the electrical current inside the generator. We demonstrate that depending on the source of irreversibility we obtain either the Curzon-Ahlborn efficiency for external dissipation or a universal efficiency at maximum power for internal dissipation. A continuous change between these two extremes is evidenced. Effects of dissymetry of thermal contact conductance are also investigated.

5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. E

References in corpus (3)

• Efficiency at maximum power: An analytically solvable model for stochastic heat engines
• Optimal working conditions for thermoelectric generators with realistic thermal coupling
• Thermoelectric internal current loops inside inhomogeneous systems

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