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Informationen zum Autor Professor Senft's main research interests lie in the mathematical analysis of mechanisms and heat engines! with an emphasis on the Stirling engine. He has published over forty papers and several books in these areas. He currently teaches at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls! but he has also been a visiting research professor at the University of Rome! the University of Washington Joint Center for Graduate Study! the University of Zagreb! and the University of Calgary. He has been a visiting fellow at the Australian National University Institute of Advanced Study! and a visiting scientist at Argonne National Laboratory. He has received research grants from the Charles A. Lindbergh! Fulbright! and the National Science Foundations! and is a consultant to the U.S. Department of Energy and NASA. Klappentext This book presents a newly developed general conceptual and basic quantitative analysis of the mechanical efficiency of heat engines. The book works out the theory at a level of ideality and generality compatible with the treatment given to thermal efficiency by classical thermodynamics. This yields results of broad bearing concerning the overall cyclic conversion of heat into usable mechanical energy. Most notably! the work reveals intrinsic limits on the overall performance of reciprocating heat engines. The ideal Stirling engine is shown to have the best overall performance potential of all possible engines under ideal comparable assumptions. The work provides mathematically explicit upper bounds on the mechanical efficiency and cyclic work output of engines having like characteristics. The theory describes the general effects of parameters such as compression ratio and external or buffer pressure on engine output. It also provides rational explanations of certain operational characteristics such as how engines generally behave when supercharged or pressurized. Zusammenfassung This 2007 book presents a developed general conceptual and basic quantitative analysis as well as the theory of mechanical efficiency of heat engines that a level of ideality and generality compatible with the treatment given to thermal efficiency in classical thermodynamics. Inhaltsverzeichnis Preface; 1. Energy transfers in cyclic heat engines; 2. Mechanism effectiveness and mechanical efficiency; 3. General efficiency limits; 4. Compression ratio and shaft work; 5. Pressurization effects; 6. Charge effects in ideal stirling engines; 7. Crossley-Stirling engines; 8. Generalized engine cycles and variable buffer pressure; 9. Multi-workspace engines and heat pumps; 10. Optimum stirling engine geometry; 11. Heat transfer effects; Appendices; References; Index....
