World Journal of Engineering Research and Technology

Dr. Yefim Berkovich*

ABSTRACT

The present paper sets some analogies between the processes of consumption and exchange of energy upon the cyclic (steady-state) processes in electric circuits and the reversible processes in thermodynamic systems. One of the conditions of cyclic character of processes in electric circuits is the periodicity of voltage and current, or a periodic character of the switch functioning, but the most influential factor is the presence of the consumption by the circuit of the reactive power. The paper shows that it is precisely this factor that makes it possible to point out the presence in electric circuits, like in thermodynamic systems, of not only entropic but also negentropic processes. It is shown that being the source of negentropy, it is the reactive power that makes it possible to allow both to transform electrical energy to mechanical one, in analogy with heat energy in a thermodynamic cycle, as well as and the realization of a large variety of other important modes. Using as an example the basic RL circuit with power supplied by a sinusoidal source, and an RLC circuit supplied by a constant voltage source through a periodically commutated switch, as well as other examples, we have shown the formation of cycles in analogy to thermodynamic cycles, which in principle gives a possibility to obtain mechanical energy in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics as formulated by Max Planck. The paper analyzes the cyclical character of power transformations, shows an analogy with the Carnot cycle in the processes of power output, accumulation, and most importantly, the return of power. The assertion of the negentropy character of reactive power, which follows, in particular, from our analysis is accompanied by a proposition of a method of numerical estimation of the value of the negentropy also based on analogies with thermodynamic systems. The given analysis is accompanied by a detailed computer modeling.

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