No abstract

The Humphrey/Atkinson thermodynamic cycle has been analyzed and compared to the Otto, Diesel, and Brayton cycles. It was shown that for the same initial conditions and peak cycle temperature the thermal efficiency of the Humphrey/Atkinson cycle exceeds that of the others as a result of the reduction in entropy production due to the volumetrically confined combustion, particularly for lower compression ratios. The expression for thermal efficiency has been derived and it has been shown that the net work includes not only compression and expansion work, but also an additional flow work term. A transient model for the Wave Disk Engine which is not restricted to isentropic compression and expansion processes is developed and an expression for the efficiency is presented.