Second Law Efficiencies

and
Exergy Change of a System

Both heat engines have the same thermal efficiency. Are they
doing equally well?
Because B has a higher TH, it
should be able to do better.
Hence, it has a higher maximum
(reversible) efficiency.

The second law efficiency is a measure of the performance of a

device relative to what its maximum performance could be
(under reversible conditions).

Second law
efficiency for
heat engine A
For heat engine B, II = 30%/70% = 43%

The second law efficiency is 100 percent for all reversible devices.

Second Law Efficiencies

For heat engines = th/th,rev

For work - producing devices = Wu/Wrev
For work consuming devices = Wrev/Wu
For refrigerators and heat pumps =
COP/COPrev
Wrev should be determined using the same
initial and final states as actual.
And for general processes =
Exergy recovered/Exergy supplied =
1
Exergy destroyed/Exergy supplied

Second Law Efficiencies

For explanations of what

these terms mean for a
particular device, see text
page 401

Example 7-6 Second law efficiency of resistance heaters.

Thermal efficiency is 100%. However, COP of a resistance
heater is 1.
What is the COPHP,rev for these conditions? = 1/(1-TL/TH)
It works out to be 26.7
so second law eff. is
COP/COPrev = 1/26.7
or .037 or 3.7%
See now why resistance
heating is so expensive?

Exergy of a fixed mass or closed system. For a reversible

process, the system work:
W = PdV = (P P0)dV + P0dV = Wb,useful + P0dV
For the system heat through a
reversible heat engine:
WHE = (1 - T0/T) Q
= Q T0/T Q
= Q (-T0dS) which gives:
Q = WHE T0dS
Plug the heat and work
expressions into:
-Q W = dU and integrate
to get:
Wtotal useful = WHE + Wb,useful
=(UU0) + P0(VV0) T0(SS0)
= W = X (exergy)

Exergy Change of a Closed System

X = (U2 - U1) + P0(V2 - V1) T0(S2 - S1) + m(22 12) +mg(z2 - z1)
Can also do it on a per-mass basis, = X/m.
The exergy change of a system is zero if the state
of the system or of the environment does not
change
Example steady-flow system.

The exergy of a closed system is either positive or

zero.

Even if T<T0 and/or P<P0 the exergy of the system is positive.

In flowing systems, you also have flow energy.

The exergy of flow energy is the useful work that would be
delivered by an imaginary piston in the flow (xflow = Pv P0v.

Just like with energy, with

exergy you can replace the
us with hs and get the
exergy of a flowing system.

Just like we use for the

energy of a flowing system,
we use the Greek letter psi,
, for the exergy of a flowing
system.

Example 7-7 Work Potential of Compressed Air in a Tank.

Assume ideal gas and ke and pe negligible.
Can calculate mass by ideal gas law. Exergy equation:
X1 = m[(u1-u0) + P0(v1-v0) T0(s1-s0) +V12/2 + gz]
Why?
Then use ideal gas law relations and
T1 = T0 to get X1.

Exergy Change During a Compression. Change in exergy

equation for flow systems:
= (h2 h1) T0(s2 s1) + (V22 V12)/2 + g(z2 z1)
Now, with the two states given, find
hs and ss and calculate .
This represents the minimum work
required to compress the refrigerant
between these two states.
This also represents the maximum
amount of work you can get from
expanding this gas again between
the same two states.