The many avatars of Curzon-Ahlborn efficiency

Abstract

Efficiency at maximum power output of irreversible heat engines has attracted a lot of interest in recent years. We discuss the occurance of a particularly simple and elegant formula for this efficiency in various different models. The so-called Curzon-Ahlborn efficiency is given by the square-root formula: $1-\sqrt{T_c/T_h}$, where $T_c$ and $T_h$ are the cold and hot reservoir temperatures.

latex: 15 pages, four figures; pedagogical article

References in corpus (2)

• H. B. Reitlinger and the origins of the Efficiency at Maximum Power formula for Heat Engines
• Continuity and boundary conditions in thermodynamics: From Carnot's efficiency to efficiencies at maximum power

Cited by in corpus (2)

• A microscopic theory of Curzon-Ahlborn heat engine
• A quantum Stirling heat engine operating in finite time