Equations · equation
Coefficient of Performance
Thermodynamics · 1834
- Equation
- COP_heating = Q_h/W ≤ T_h/(T_h − T_c)
- Field
- Thermodynamics
- Symbols
- COP heat delivered per unit of work · Q_h heat moved to the warm side · W work in · T_h, T_c the two temperatures in kelvin
- Year
- 1834
Significance
A heat pump is a heat engine run backwards, and its figure of merit can exceed 1 without breaking anything: a COP of 4 means four joules of heat moved for one joule of electricity. The Carnot limit shows why it works best when the two temperatures are close — and why heat pumps struggle in the deep cold.
Referenced by
equation
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