Optimization of a solar-driven heat engine

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Abstract
The optimum performance of the solar‐driven heat engine consisting of a solar collector and a heat engine is investigated, based on the linear heat‐loss model of solar collectors and the endoreversible Carnot cycle model of heat engines. Some new results such as the optimum operating temperature of the solar collector, the maximum overall efficiency of the system, the optimum operating temperatures of the working fluid in two isothermal heat exchange processes of the heat engine, and so on, are derived. It is expounded that these results have more realistic meaning than the previous relative theoretics for the optimum design of practical solar‐driven heat engine systems.