Performance evaluation of irreversible Stirling and Ericsson heat pump cycles

This communication presents the performance evaluation of irreversible Stirling and Ericsson Heat Pumps Cycles including external and internal irreversibilities along with finite heat capacities of external reservoirs. The external irreversibility is due to finite temperature difference between working fluid and external (source/sink) reservoirs fluid while the internal irreversibilities are due to regenerative heat loss and other entropy generation in the cycle. The heating load is maximized for the given power input. The heating coefficient of performance, the heat transfers to and from the heat pumps and the working fluid temperatures at these conditions have been evaluated. The effect of different parameters (reservoirs temperature, the various effectivenesses and irreversibility parameter), on the performance of these cycles have been studied. It is found that the effect of internal irreversibility parameter is more pronounced than that of other external irreversibility parameters. (C) 2002 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.