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Useful work, exergy, and thermodynamic potentials.

Author(s) : KLENKE W.

Type of article: Article

Summary

The thermodynamic potentials, ie, the internal energy, enthalpy, Helmholtz free energy, and Gibbs free energy, have not only the properties of the canonical equation of state, but also the characteristics of potential functions with respect to transformations of energy if only the isolating properties of the boundaries of the system are taken into consideration. Useful work is the difference in the corresponding potential function between the final and the initial states of the system. For irreversible processes, the dissipation of energy for adiabatic boundaries of the system becomes the characteristic quantity, giving the energetic measure of irreversibility instead of the widely-used loss of exergy. Since the concept of adiabatic boundaries of the system and a loss of exergy are mutually exclusive, losses in exergy do not exist for adiabatic systems.

Details

  • Original title: Useful work, exergy, and thermodynamic potentials.
  • Record ID : 1993-0088
  • Languages: English
  • Source: Int. chem. Eng. - vol. 31 - n. 4
  • Publication date: 1991/10
  • Document available for consultation in the library of the IIR headquarters only.

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