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Article

Linking Optimization Success and Stability of Finite-Time Thermodynamics Heat Engines

by
Julian Gonzalez-Ayala
1,2,*,
David Pérez-Gallego
1,2,
Alejandro Medina
1,2,
José M. Mateos Roco
1,2,
Antonio Calvo Hernández
1,2,
Santiago Velasco
1,2 and
Fernando Angulo-Brown
3
1
Department of Applied Physics, Universidad de Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
2
Institute of Physics and Mathematics (IUFFyM), Universidad de Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
3
Escuela Superior de Física y Matemáticas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City 07700, Mexico
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Entropy 2025, 27(8), 822; https://doi.org/10.3390/e27080822 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 1 July 2025 / Revised: 30 July 2025 / Accepted: 30 July 2025 / Published: 2 August 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The First Half Century of Finite-Time Thermodynamics)

Abstract

In celebration of 50 years of the endoreversible Carnot-like heat engine, this work aims to link the thermodynamic success of the irreversible Carnot-like heat engine with the stability dynamics of the engine. This region of success is defined by two extreme configurations in the interaction between heat reservoirs and the working fluid. The first corresponds to a fully reversible limit, and the second one is the fully dissipative limit; in between both limits, the heat exchange between reservoirs and working fluid produces irreversibilities and entropy generation. The distance between these two extremal configurations is minimized, independently of the chosen metric, in the state where the efficiency is half the Carnot efficiency. This boundary encloses the region where irreversibilities dominate or the reversible behavior dominates (region of success). A general stability dynamics is proposed based on the endoreversible nature of the model and the operation parameter in charge of defining the operation regime. For this purpose, the maximum ecological and maximum Omega regimes are considered. The results show that for single perturbations, the dynamics rapidly directs the system towards the success region, and under random perturbations producing stochastic trajectories, the system remains always in this region. The results are contrasted with the case in which no restitution dynamics exist. It is shown that stability allows the system to depart from the original steady state to other states that enhance the system’s performance, which could favor the evolution and specialization of systems in nature and in artificial devices.
Keywords: finite-time thermodynamics; endoreversible hypothesis; optimization; heat engine stability; thermodynamic success; stochastic perturbations; relative entropy finite-time thermodynamics; endoreversible hypothesis; optimization; heat engine stability; thermodynamic success; stochastic perturbations; relative entropy

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MDPI and ACS Style

Gonzalez-Ayala, J.; Pérez-Gallego, D.; Medina, A.; Roco, J.M.M.; Calvo Hernández, A.; Velasco, S.; Angulo-Brown, F. Linking Optimization Success and Stability of Finite-Time Thermodynamics Heat Engines. Entropy 2025, 27, 822. https://doi.org/10.3390/e27080822

AMA Style

Gonzalez-Ayala J, Pérez-Gallego D, Medina A, Roco JMM, Calvo Hernández A, Velasco S, Angulo-Brown F. Linking Optimization Success and Stability of Finite-Time Thermodynamics Heat Engines. Entropy. 2025; 27(8):822. https://doi.org/10.3390/e27080822

Chicago/Turabian Style

Gonzalez-Ayala, Julian, David Pérez-Gallego, Alejandro Medina, José M. Mateos Roco, Antonio Calvo Hernández, Santiago Velasco, and Fernando Angulo-Brown. 2025. "Linking Optimization Success and Stability of Finite-Time Thermodynamics Heat Engines" Entropy 27, no. 8: 822. https://doi.org/10.3390/e27080822

APA Style

Gonzalez-Ayala, J., Pérez-Gallego, D., Medina, A., Roco, J. M. M., Calvo Hernández, A., Velasco, S., & Angulo-Brown, F. (2025). Linking Optimization Success and Stability of Finite-Time Thermodynamics Heat Engines. Entropy, 27(8), 822. https://doi.org/10.3390/e27080822

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