Physical Transformation AtlasPTA
Coupling family · coupling:heat-engine

Heat engine (thermomechanical)

A working fluid cycled between hot and cold reservoirs to produce shaft work.

Thermodynamicsalso: heat engine, Rankine cycle, Stirling engine, Brayton cycle

Atlas record: 4 claims reference this coupling family — 4 established.

Explorerelations · matrix context · sources · cite

4claims0enumerated routes0routes with complete-composition evidence0candidate routes not searched3cited sources

Relations

member of · 4
Working-fluid expansion (heat-engine cycle)—member of→Heat engine (thermomechanical)established
Ocean thermal energy conversion—member of→Heat engine (thermomechanical)established
Thermal expansion—member of→Heat engine (thermomechanical)established
Gas-dynamic expansion—member of→Heat engine (thermomechanical)established
  • the thermomechanical family: enthalpy and pressure availability to directed kinetic energy, with no cycle and no shaft

Matrix context

D = disequilibrium row · C = coupling family column. A cell reads the state of the atlas for that pair.

D.01 Temperature gradientD.02 Pressure gradientD.03 Concentration gradientD.04 Salinity gradientD.05 Chemical potential differenceD.06 Electric potential differenceD.07 Changing magnetic fluxD.08 Mechanical stress or strainD.09 Mechanical vibrationD.10 Bulk fluid flowD.11 Incident radiation fluxD.12 Radiative imbalance with the skyD.13 Spin accumulationD.14 Metastable phaseD.15 Surface energy differenceD.16 Capillary pressureD.17 Humidity gradientD.18 Osmotic pressure differenceD.19 Gravitational potential differenceD.20 Nuclear binding-energy differenceD.21 Thermal energy at uniform temperatureD.22 Quantum vacuum fluctuationsD.23 Acoustic fieldD.24 Temporal temperature changeD.25 Changing electric field

Cited sources · 3

  1. [1]
    A. Bejan. Advanced Engineering Thermodynamics (4th ed.) (2016)
    Wiley · doi:10.1002/9781119245964 · crossref ✓ 2026-09-19 · record
  2. [2]
    NASA Glenn Research Center. Nozzle Design (Beginner's Guide to Aeronautics) (2024)
    NASA Glenn Research Center, Beginner's Guide to Aeronautics; page dated 2021-08-06, modified 2024-09-12 · www1.grc.nasa.gov/beginners-guide-to-aeronautics/nozzle-design/ · record
  3. [3]
    J. Marlin Smith. Preliminary results in the NASA Lewis H2-O2 combustion MHD experiment (1979)
    NASA Technical Memorandum 79135 (E-9983); prepared for the 18th Symposium on the Engineering Aspects of Magnetohydrodynamics, Butte, Montana, June 18–20, 1979 · ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19790014726 · record

Cite this entity

Physical Transformation Atlas (2026). entity coupling:heat-engine: Heat engine (thermomechanical). Dataset revision rbfbfcbb70e57 (hash of the canonical data). https://physical-transformation-atlas.wldud5192.workers.dev/e/coupling/heat-engine

Ids and matrix addresses are stable across revisions; the revision hash identifies the exact canonical files the record was compiled from and is meta.data_hash in every /api export. Reuse terms: see the license field in any export.