A heat engine is defined as any engine that uses heat to perform work. As such, the physics underlying the operation of a heat engine is a direct consequence of the first law of thermodynamics. Heat engines take heat from a higher temperature heat...

A heat engine is a physical or theoretical device that converts thermal energy to mechanical output. The mechanical output is called work, and the thermal energy input is called heat. Heat engines typically run on a specific thermodynamic cycle. Heat...

NVAC Improved monitoring, instrumentation could reduce energy use 30%. Commercial buildings consume about 15% of the U.S.'s energy, at an annual cost of $85 billion, according to a report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Further, the report said, "Half of this consumption...

TECHNOLOGY Praxair, Inc. (Danbury. CT: www.praxair.com), in conjunction with Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL; Los Alamos, NM: www.lanl.gov), is developing what will it claims will be the first industrial-- scale thermoacoustic Stirling heat engine (TASHE) - the only refrigeration technology capable of achieving...

Ethanol has less energy than gasoline (about 68 percent of gasoline’s calorific value, according to my Internal Combustion Engine Handbook). And our cars’ engines are, in fact, heat engines exploiting this calorific content. Thus, as a reasonably valid approximation, a tankful of straight ethanol would...

Learning from Mr. BibMichelin's Challenge Bibendum continues to be the finest hands-on date bank of alternative fuels and alternatively fueled vehicles in the world. Held every couple of years, this wonderful event helps me learn from some of the smartest engineers and, what's more, gets...