Energy Conversion

Lecture 2: Basics of Energy

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Forms of Energy
 Electrical energy
 Chemical energy
 Mechanical energy
 Thermal energy
 Electromagnetic energy
 Nuclear energy

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Types of Energy
❑ Transitional: energy in motion.
o electrical current
o work
o heat
o Electromagnetic
❑ Stored: energy which has a mass, a position in a force field,
etc.
o electrical potential
o gravitational potential
o inertial potential
o fluid compression
o chemical potential
o thermal:
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Unit of energy

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Energy storage

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Energy conversion process

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Energy conversion process

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Example

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Conversion efficiency
 The efficiency of energy conversion is based on the notion of useful
work. That is, some of the energy being converted is not converted
into the desired form. Most often, the undesired conversion is to low-
grade thermal energy.

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Conversion efficiency

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Conversion efficiency

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Serial efficiency

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