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A Carnot Cycle (named after N.L. Sadi
Carnot, who introduced it in 1824) is an ideal engine that employs two adiabatic
and two isothermal processes. Such a cycle is shown in the
figure on the right. The process from
a to
b is an isotherm
(at temperature TH),
b to
c an adiabat,
c to
d another isotherm (at
TL), and d to
a the second adiabat.
The work done during one cycle of the Carnot Cycle is the
yellow area. The
efficiency of the Carnot engine
depends only on the two temperatures:
$\epsilon$Carnot =
(TH - TL) / TH
A Carnot engine is reversible. Run backwards
(a ->
d
->
c
->
b
-> a), it
turns into the Carnot refrigerator
with performance:
K = TL/(TH -
TL)
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