Volume 49, Issue 3

We study the optimal performance of an endoreversible quantum dot heat engine, in which the heat transfer between the system and baths is mediated by qubits, operating under the conditions of a trade-off objective function known as the maximum efficient power function defined by the product of power and efficiency of the engine. First, we numerically study the optimization of the efficient power function for the engine under consideration. Then, we obtain some analytic results by applying a high-temperature limit and compare the performance of the engine at maximum efficient power function to the engine operating in the maximum power regime. We find that the engine operating at maximum efficient power function produces at least 88.89 % of the maximum power output while at the same time reducing the power loss due to entropy production by a considerable amount. We conclude by studying the stochastic simulations of the efficiency of the engine in maximum power and maximum efficient power regime. We find that the engine operating at maximum power is subjected to fewer power fluctuations as compared to the one operating at maximum efficient power function.

Energetic laser-accelerated ions can heat a small solid-density sample homogeneously to temperatures over 10,000 K in less than a nanosecond. During this brief heating time, the electron temperature of the sample rises first, and then the ion temperature increases owing to the heat transfer between the hot electrons and cold ions. Since energy deposition from the incident heavy ion beam continues concurrently with the electron-ion relaxation process within the heated sample, the electron and ion temperatures do not reach equilibrium until the end of the heating. Here we calculate the temperature evolutions of electrons and ions within a dense aluminum sample heated by a laser-accelerated gold ions using the two-temperature model. For these calculations, we use the published stopping power data, known electron-ion coupling factors, and the SESAME equation-of-state (EOS) table for aluminum. For the first time, we investigate the electron and ion temperature distributions within the warm dense aluminum sample and the heating uniformity throughout the entire heating period. We anticipate that knowledge of the temperature evolution during heating will allow for the study of the stopping power, thermal conductivity, EOS, and opacity of warm dense matter heated by an energetic heavy ion beam.

The thermal and electrical properties of photovoltaic cell (PVC) under linear phenomenological heat transfer law between it and the environment is studied through finite time thermodynamics and the volt-ampere characteristic equation. The properties of PVC are affected by heat transfer between PVC and environment. There are optimal solar radiation intensity and PVC output voltage (OV), which make the photoelectric conversion efficiency (PECE) of PVC reach the highest value. When OV and solar radiation intensity are 28.50 V and 700 W/m 2 , the maximum PECE is 0.156. There is also the best solar radiation intensity, which makes the open-circuit voltage (OCV) reach the maximum. When solar radiant intensity is 669 W/m 2 , the maximum OCV is 33.14 V. The values of power output and short-circuit current (SCC) are monotonically increasing with solar radiation intensity. Given solar radiation intensity, the power output and OV exhibit a parabolic shape. The operating temperature falls first and then grows with the OV. However, the change of operating temperature with OV is not much. Band gap is a decreasing function of operating temperature. This article can give theoretical support for the design and use of PVCs.

This study explored the capability of semi-empirical and neural network approaches for correlating and predicting some equilibrium and non-equilibrium thermophysical properties of liquid lubricants. The equilibrium properties, including the densities and several thermodynamic coefficients for 12 liquid lubricants, were correlated and predicted through a perturbed hard-chain equation of state (PHC EoS) by an attractive term of Yukawa tail. The molecular parameters of PHC EoS were obtained by correlating them with 935 data points for the densities and isothermal compressibilities of studied systems in the 278–353 K range and pressure up to 70 MPa with the average absolute relative deviations (AARDs) of 0.36 % and 5.25 %, respectively. Then, that EoS was employed to predict the densities of other literature sources (with an AARD of 0.81 %) along with several thermodynamic coefficients, including isobaric expansivities (with an AARD of 12.92 %), thermal pressure coefficients (with the AARD of 12.93 %), and internal pressure (with the AARD of 13.67 %), for which the reference values were obtained from Tait-type equations and available in literature. Apart from the equilibrium mentioned above properties, the PHC EoS was combined with a rough hard-sphere-chain (RHSC) model to correlate and predict the 548 data points for the viscosities of 7 selected liquefied lubricants in 283–353 K range and pressures up to 100 MPa with the AARD of 11.85 %. The accuracy of the results from the RHSC-based model has also been compared with an empirical PηT equation of Tammann-Tait type and an artificial neural network (ANN), both of which were developed in this work. The ANN of one hidden layer and 13 neurons was trained using the back-propagation algorithm. The results acquired from this approach were very promising and demonstrated the potential of the ANN approach for predicting the viscosity of lubricants, reaching an AARD of 0.81 % for the entire dataset.

A novel approach is proposed for optimal designing two-stage thermoelectric coolers using the biogeography-based optimization algorithm. For the comprehensiveness of the research, both types of two-stage coolers, including electrically serial and separated stages, have been investigated. Using the proposed procedure, first by selecting the most important performance parameters of the cooler, i.e. COP and the cooling capacity as objective functions, the efficiency and the validity of the approach are proved by comparing the results with results of the previous researchers. In all the examined cases, the proposed approach has led to the enhancing of the cooler performance. The results of single-objective optimization showed that using the proposed method, the cooling capacity and COP can be improved up to 17 % and 8.5 % compared to the previous designs, respectively. In the following, multi-objective optimization of thermoelectric coolers is conducted, taking into account both the objectives of the COP and the cooling capacity. Finally, Pareto optimal solutions and the exergetic efficiency of the optimized cooler were calculated for different values of the weight factor of the multi-objective function. The results of multi-objective optimization showed that by increasing the COP weight factor in the objective function, the exergetic efficiency of the refrigeration system enhances.

The balance equation of angular momentum in anisotropic fluids includes a couple stress contribution, also responsible for an antisymmetric contribution to the force stress tensor. We herein derive all balance equations for the simplest anisotropic fluid, i.e., a polar fluid, using the GENERIC formalism of non-equilibrium thermodynamics. In doing so, we find that there is an inconsistency between the internal energy density evolution equation derived using non-equilibrium thermodynamics and the one usually considered in micropolar theory.

The complete description of energy and material transport within the Generalized energy-conserving dissipative particle dynamics with mass transfer (GenDPDE-M) methodology is presented. In particular, the dynamic coupling between mass and energy is incorporated into the GenDPDE-M, which was previously introduced with dynamically decoupled fluxes (J. Bonet Avalos et al., J. Chem. Theory Comput. , 18 (12): 7639–7652, 2022). From a theoretical perspective, we have derived the appropriate Fluctuation-Dissipation theorems along with Onsager’s reciprocal relations, suitable for mesoscale models featuring this coupling. Equilibrium and non-equilibrium simulations are performed to demonstrate the internal thermodynamic consistency of the method, as well as the ability to capture the Ludwig–Soret effect, and tune its strength through the mesoscopic parameters. In view of the completeness of the presented approach, GenDPDE-M is the most general Lagrangian method to deal with complex fluids and systems at the mesoscale, where thermal agitation is relevant.

We optimize one-qubit Novikov quantum heat engines with a dissipative heat leak using the formalisms of open-system Quantum Mechanics and the Finite-Time Thermodynamics. We show that the leak changes the power-efficiency and the efficient-power-efficiency curves, reduces the maximum efficiency of the machine and does not change its power. We also discuss the effects of the leak on the power that is rejected from the machine to the environment. Finally, we study the high-temperature limit to check that the engine reduces in this limit to a classic Novikov heat engine.

This work focuses on the study of natural convection in a flat porous microchannel with asymmetric heating. The novelty of the work lies in the fact that for the first time the method of discrete symmetries was used to analyze the complete system of Navier–Stokes and energy equations in a two-dimensional approximation. Analytical solutions for velocity and temperature profiles have been derived based on symmetry analysis, taking into account boundary conditions such as slip and temperature jump at the channel walls. The effect of Grashof, Knudsen, Darcy, and Prandtl numbers on the flow characteristics in the microchannel and heat transfer coefficients was elucidated. At high Grashof numbers, an ascending flow near the hot wall and a descending flow near the cold wall arise. Increasing the Knudsen number leads to an increase in the velocity, temperature jump at the walls and a decrease in heat transfer coefficients. As the Darcy number increases, velocities amplify in both ascending and descending flows. The temperature jump at the hot wall grows up, while it remains unchanged at the cold wall. In the same time, the heat transfer coefficient at the hot wall decreases.

This corrigendum addresses some typographical mistakes and errors in published article “Significance of entropy generation and the Coriolis force on the three-dimensional non-Darcy flow of ethylene-glycol conveying carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs and MWCNTs)”. Corrections about some typographical errors and plots of g η $g\left(\eta \right)$ satisfying ambient condition in study (I. Ullah, T. Hayat, A. Aziz, and A. Alsaedi, “Significance of entropy generation and the coriolis force on the three-dimensional non-Darcy flow of ethylene-glycol conveying carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs and MWCNTs),” J. Non-Equilibrium Thermodyn. , vol. 47, pp. 61–75, 2022) are presented here.