Thermodynamic analysis of thermal efficiency and power of Minto engine

Minto engine is a kind of liquid piston heat engine that operates on a small temperature gradient. But there is no power formula for it yet. And its thermal efficiency is low and formula sometimes is misused. In this paper, deriving the power formula and simplifying the thermal efficiency formula of Minto engine based on energy distribution analysis will be discussed. To improve the original Minto engine, a new design of improved Minto engine is proposed and thermal efficiency formula and power formula are also given. A computer program was developed to analyze thermal efficiency and power of original and improved Minto engines operating between low and high-temperature heat sources. The simulation results show that thermal efficiency of improved Minto engine can reach over 7% between 293.15 K and 353.15 K which is much higher than that of original one; the temperature difference between upper and lower containers is lower than half of that between low and high temperature of heat sources when the original Minto engines output the maximum power; on the contrary, it is higher in the improved Minto engines.