LA-2583 -- The Thermodynamic Cycle of the Minto Solar Wheel

The ideal thermodynamic cycle of the Minto solar wheel consists of the following four processes: saturated heating, isobaric expansion, isochoric cooling and isothermal compression. The actual cycle, however, consists of five processes: isochoric heating, isobaric expansion, isochoric cooling, isothermal compression and isochoric cooling. The main advantage of the Minto solar wheel in comparison with a Rankine-cycle power plant is that the construction of the former is much simpler than that of the latter. The disadvantage of the Minto wheel is that its thermal efficiency is much lower than that of a Rankine-cycle power plant.