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

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

2011-11-04

arxiv.org/abs/1111.1619v2

Phys. Rev. E 85, 031116 (2012)

Physics

Condensed Matter

Statistical Mechanics

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

Scientific paper

10.1103/PhysRevE.85.031116

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.

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