Reply to comment of Bister and co-authors on the critique of the dissipative heat engine

TL;DR

This paper defends the thermodynamic validity of the dissipative heat engine concept, clarifying that its mechanical work cannot exceed the Carnot limit, countering claims that hurricanes exemplify such engines.

Contribution

It provides a rigorous thermodynamic analysis showing that the dissipative heat engine cannot surpass Carnot efficiency, refuting prior counterarguments linking hurricanes to DHE.

Findings

BRPE's arguments violate energy conservation

DHE's work is limited by Carnot efficiency

Hurricanes cannot be modeled as DHE

Abstract

The dissipative heat engine (DHE) is based on a Carnot cycle with external heat Qin received at temperature Ts and released at To < Ts. In contrast to the classical Carnot engine, mechanical work Ad in the DHE is not exported to external environment but dissipates to heat within the engine. Makarieva et al. (2010, hereafter MGLN) asserted that the laws of thermodynamics prohibit an increase of Ad beyond the Carnot limit: Ad <= epsilon Qin, epsilon = (Ts - To)/Ts. Bister et al. (2010, hereafter BRPE) counterargued that such an increase is possible and that hurricanes can be viewed as a natural DHE. Here we show that the arguments of BRPE are not consistent with the energy conservation law and thus do not refute MGLN's claims.