Thermal efficiency

Physics Concepts and Laws

Thermal efficiency is a dimensionless performance measure for devices that use thermal energy, including internal combustion engines, steam turbines, boilers, furnaces, refrigerators and air conditioners. For a heat engine, it is the ratio of net work output to heat input. For a heat pump, it is called the coefficient of performance and compares heating or cooling output with external work input. Heat engine efficiency is fractional, while heat pump coefficients of performance exceed 1.

Classification: Dimensionless quantity and energy efficiency
Heat engine definition: Net work output divided by heat input
Heat pump term: Coefficient of performance (COP)

Sources and credits

Article: Thermal efficiency (English Wikipedia)
Wikidata: Q1452104
Text: Card text is adapted from the English Wikipedia article by an automated summary. Wikipedia content is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for its contributors. CC BY-SA 4.0 · Article history and contributors
Illustration: By Eric Gaba (Sting - fr:Sting). Public domain · File page on Wikimedia Commons
Eric Gaba (Sting - fr:Sting), Own workBased upon Image:Carnot-engine.png
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