A piston–cylinder assembly contains air modeled
as an ideal gas with a constant specific heat ratio, k =
1.4. The air undergoes a power cycle consisting of
four processes in series: Process 1–2: Constanttemperature expansion at 600 K from p1 = 0.5 MPa to
p2 = 0.4 MPa. Process 2–3: Polytropic expansion with
n = 1.35 to p3 = 0.3 MPa. Process 3–4: Constantpressure compression to V4 = V1. Process 4–1:
Constant-volume heating. Determine (a) the work and
heat transfer for each process, in kJ/kg, and (b) the
thermal efficiency.Â
