RETRACTED: Low-grade heat-based thermal cycles unconstrained by the Carnot factor doing work by cooling

• Published in: Energy (Oxford) 2017-03, Vol.122, p.204-213
• Main Authors: Ferreiro Garcia, Ramon, Carril, Jose Carbia, Iglesias Garcia, Steven
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0360-5442
• DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2017.01.075

This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief. The authors propose three different thermal cycles and claim that, for low temperature differences between the heat sources, these cycles achieve a better thermal efficiency than the Carnot efficiency. However, this unusual result is based on an erroneous analysis of the proposed cycles. In the first trilateral cycle, the authors forget to take into account the work consumed for the compression of the working fluid. In the second trilateral cycle, they wrongly consider that the compression work is the useful network and they don’t take into account the work done by the fluid on the surrounding during the expansion process. In the quadrilateral cycle, they consider that both the compression work and the expansion work contribute to produce work on the surrounding. The Editor-in-Chief regret that such violation of thermodynamic principles was not discovered during the reviewing and editorial process.