Re:Airbus pioneers a superconducting powertrain cooled by li...
by ethbr0 on Wednesday April 21, 2021 @10:55AM
(#26890470)
(Post coffee) Cars have radiators to cool the operating structure (e.g. engine block), but that cooling's ancillary to power produced, no?
Carnot cycle was what I was grasping for.
Original point being that in a thermal engine, increasing your temperature gradient by increasing your high-temperature side (while holding exhaust constant) leads to more potential power.
Or IOW, a thermal engine that doesn't burn hot somewhere isn't going to produce much power.
(Electric being a completely different ball of wax)
Carnot cycle was what I was grasping for.
Original point being that in a thermal engine, increasing your temperature gradient by increasing your high-temperature side (while holding exhaust constant) leads to more potential power.
Or IOW, a thermal engine that doesn't burn hot somewhere isn't going to produce much power.
(Electric being a completely different ball of wax)