Thermodynamic concepts for a class of one-ports

Abstract

The paper deals with one-ports represented by an equation involving two conjugated variables and their derivatives. The consideration does not require the a priori knowledge of thermodynamical concepts; energy, dissipation and reversibility are treated in terms of directly measurable input-output variables. A passivity concept is established on cyclic processes. A generalized energy function using a theorem on boundedness of the work in constructed. The work is partitioned into two terms: a reversible and an irreversible one. The laws of thermodynamics are reformulated for these systems. The results are applied to special cases.