Finite time exergoeconomic performance for six endoreversible heat engine cycles: Unified description

Abstract

The operation of a universal steady flow endoreversible heat engine cycle model consisting of two constant thermal-capacity heating branches, a constant thermal-capacity cooling branch and two adiabatic branches is viewed as a production process with exergy as its output. The finite time exergoeconomic performance optimization of the universal endoreversible heat engine cycle is investigated by taking profit optimization criterion as the objective. The analytical formulae for power, efficiency and profit rate function of the universal endoreversible heat engine cycle with heat resistance loss are derived. The focus of this paper is to search the compromised optimization between economics (profit) and the utilization factor (efficiency) for endoreversible cycles. Moreover, analysis and optimization of the model are carried out in order to investigate the effect of cycle process on the performance of the universal endoreversible heat engine cycle using numerical examples. The results obtained herein include the performance characteristics of six endoreversible heat engines, including Carnot, Diesel, Otto, Atkinson, Brayton and Dual cycles.