Re: [Vo]:If 2 heat engines are placed in series their efficiency is lower, and the second law breaks according to Carnot if that can occur!

2024-05-10 Thread Jürg Wyttenbach
OK If you change the limits like some do with the Peltier elements using 
500C input then you can get higher COP's due to the higher entry level. 
(and just ignore the heating of the input...)


Heat pumps we use in houses are certified - Europe for 0..35C, not for 
10..35C - as we live pretty north in average. With 10C input you already 
can get a COP way above 6 with the proper gas. (well ground water heat 
pumps do it)


Our probe runs between 6..12C and is pretty warm. We are lucky. Older 
probes here have been to short, are most of the time frozen and deliver 
below 0C...


Your example with COP > 10 uses natural phase changes (T > 80C, water)  
what is way better than induced phase changes as you don't need a high 
compression.


But such heat pumps definitely are just for industrial process heat 
recovery add not for common use.



J.W.

On 10.05.2024 13:24, Jonathan Berry wrote:


/Sorry a heatpump (HP) cannot have a COP 30 or 60/

Sorry but they can, I gave you the links.

The math also supports this.

No, you are right that a regular small house-hold heatpumps operating 
at 100% power over the rated temperature differential will top out 
currently at about a heating COP of 5.5.


However is it is well made and can be powered at the ideal power level 
the COP goes up and can be measured at 10+


And that is just the heat being counted, if we count the cold side 
which is normally ignored when we are trying to heat we get a true COP 
of 20+


But have you ever wondered who small house-hold heat pumps have a 
higher COP than larger ones?


It is because the smaller heatpumps have everything (for the power 
level they work at) size larger and closer to optimal.


But when operating on an inverter basis, the efficiency can go higher.

And the COP of a larger heatpump that isn't working hard out can 
exceed the rated COP of a smaller heatpump and even outclass it 
entirely, though there might also be a point of something being 
oversized but I don't really think it's much of an issue when it is 
inverter based and you know how inefficient it is to have the cold 
side outside to have a hard time due to getting too cold and frosting 
up too much...


Note: "A W10W35 water-to-water heat pump should have a coefficient of 
performance (COP) of at least 5.5. COP"


AT LEAST!  not at best.

I just asked a chatbot, apparently 12.8F might be a plausible range to 
give a reading over:  " 47°F (8.3°C) outdoor temperature and 70°F (21°C)"


So I ran with that and based on the heat engine efficiency numbers, at 
that temp there is a 4.3% efficiency as a heat engine, and that would 
seem to indicate an absolute max heatpump COP of 29.


But at a 2C difference it was a heat engine efficiency of 0.67% and a 
COP as high as 148!


People report to have measured COP's of 11, and I gave you links to 
very professional examples of COP's up to 30 and explain why 30 can be 
seen as 60 when you utilize both sides.


In theory COP can with some tiny fraction of a C separation across 
each heatpump go near infinite if ideal (no losses).


Of course if you were driving so many you would need to find a super 
efficient way, but we don't need a COP of 148 even if it is 
theoretically possible.


A COP of 5.5 even without doubling it is plenty, even without running 
it across a more modest gradient...


Just run enough in series to get the efficiency of the heat engine to 
about 50% while the COP is not much worse than 3 and you not only have 
a proof of principle but something perhaps practical.


But we don't need to build it, the fact is that in theory you can move 
ANY amount of heat up any hill as long as it is divided up by enough 
heat pumps that have low frictional losses.


We don't need to build it (though we could) to prove that the 
conservation of Energy is more of a rule of thumb but easily broken in 
practice if you know how.



/Assume a COP of 5 for a single step HP as we have it today in a 
reasonably good probe heat pump. (mine has 5.5 for heating)

/

Ok.  Can do.


/You can neither simply multiply or add the COP's/

I did neither one, well I doubled which is valid (or approximately so) 
in a single state if you just count the cold side, but generally I 
didn't add or multiply COP's.


/as you must provide e.g. 20x the basic energy to fill the reservoir 
for the next HP state./


There are probably only 2 Reservoirs (one on the extreme hot and 
extreme cold ends), and even if there is a reservoir between each one 
it only takes a moment to reach a steady state condition and then it 
is as if it isn't there.
I am not sure really what you are talking about, what reservoir needs 
20 times the energy? I think you have misunderstood something.


What we are proposing is very much like Carnot's proposal, 2 
Reservoirs, one hot and one cold.
There is a high efficiency heat engine connected between two 
reservoirs turning say with 64% efficiency of the thermal energy to 
mechanical.


If we were to try and make this 

Re: [Vo]:If 2 heat engines are placed in series their efficiency is lower, and the second law breaks according to Carnot if that can occur!

2024-05-10 Thread Jonathan Berry
*Sorry a heatpump (HP) cannot have a COP 30 or 60*

Sorry but they can, I gave you the links.

The math also supports this.

No, you are right that a regular small house-hold heatpumps operating at
100% power over the rated temperature differential will top out currently
at about a heating COP of 5.5.

However is it is well made and can be powered at the ideal power level the
COP goes up and can be measured at 10+

And that is just the heat being counted, if we count the cold side which is
normally ignored when we are trying to heat we get a true COP of 20+

But have you ever wondered who small house-hold heat pumps have a higher
COP than larger ones?

It is because the smaller heatpumps have everything (for the power level
they work at) size larger and closer to optimal.

But when operating on an inverter basis, the efficiency can go higher.

And the COP of a larger heatpump that isn't working hard out can exceed the
rated COP of a smaller heatpump and even outclass it entirely, though there
might also be a point of something being oversized but I don't really think
it's much of an issue when it is inverter based and you know how
inefficient it is to have the cold side outside to have a hard time due to
getting too cold and frosting up too much...

Note: "A W10W35 water-to-water heat pump should have a coefficient of
performance (COP) of at least 5.5. COP"

AT LEAST!  not at best.

I just asked a chatbot, apparently 12.8F might be a plausible range to give
a reading over:  " 47°F (8.3°C) outdoor temperature and 70°F (21°C)"

So I ran with that and based on the heat engine efficiency numbers, at that
temp there is a 4.3% efficiency as a heat engine, and that would seem to
indicate an absolute max heatpump COP of 29.

But at a 2C difference it was a heat engine efficiency of 0.67% and a COP
as high as 148!

People report to have measured COP's of 11, and I gave you links to very
professional examples of COP's up to 30 and explain why 30 can be seen as
60 when you utilize both sides.

In theory COP can with some tiny fraction of a C separation across each
heatpump go near infinite if ideal (no losses).

Of course if you were driving so many you would need to find a super
efficient way, but we don't need a COP of 148 even if it is theoretically
possible.

A COP of 5.5 even without doubling it is plenty, even without running it
across a more modest gradient...

Just run enough in series to get the efficiency of the heat engine to about
50% while the COP is not much worse than 3 and you not only have a proof of
principle but something perhaps practical.

But we don't need to build it, the fact is that in theory you can move ANY
amount of heat up any hill as long as it is divided up by enough heat pumps
that have low frictional losses.

We don't need to build it (though we could) to prove that the conservation
of Energy is more of a rule of thumb but easily broken in practice if you
know how.



*Assume a COP of 5 for a single step HP as we have it today in a reasonably
good probe heat pump. (mine has 5.5 for heating)*

Ok.  Can do.


*You can neither simply multiply or add the COP's*

I did neither one, well I doubled which is valid (or approximately so) in a
single state if you just count the cold side, but generally I didn't add or
multiply COP's.

*as you must provide e.g. 20x the basic energy to fill the reservoir for
the next HP state.*
There are probably only 2 Reservoirs (one on the extreme hot and extreme
cold ends), and even if there is a reservoir between each one it only takes
a moment to reach a steady state condition and then it is as if it isn't
there.
I am not sure really what you are talking about, what reservoir needs 20
times the energy? I think you have misunderstood something.

What we are proposing is very much like Carnot's proposal, 2 Reservoirs,
one hot and one cold.
There is a high efficiency heat engine connected between two reservoirs
turning say with 64% efficiency of the thermal energy to mechanical.

If we were to try and make this heat engine drive another identical heat
engine connected between the same 2 resivious to act as a reatpump it would
fail as each would be matched, even If it was smaller and weaker but just
as efficient as a heat engine then as a heatpump over that temperature
differential it would have a COP of less than 1 if I'm not mistaken, but
not good anyway.

However if we had multiple identical reversible heat engines, and one goes
between the hot and cold, and the others are placed with one on one hot,
one on the cold and other heat engines placed in between.

As such they would behave just like a series of resistors across a voltage
potential.  If you measured the temperature between each one it would
ideally be a fraction of the total.

Each one by being over a tiny fraction of the full temperature differential
is only driven as a heat engine very weakly (low efficiency) that can
easily hit a percent or 2 or less.  And a 2% efficient heat engine when run
as 

Re: [Vo]:If 2 heat engines are placed in series their efficiency is lower, and the second law breaks according to Carnot if that can occur!

2024-05-10 Thread Jürg Wyttenbach
Sorry a heatpump (HP) cannot have a COP 30 or 60. Assume a COP of 5 for 
a single step HP as we have it today in a reasonably good probe heat 
pump. (mine has 5.5 for heating)


You can neither simply multiply or add the COP's as you must provide 
e.g. 20x the basic energy to fill the reservoir for the next HP state. 
To heat 1000l from 10 to 50C you need 25'000 Liter of water at 10C if 
you take out 2C.


So the base COP goes in with a factor 20 in the total COP equation.

Thus you must divide 25 by 20 for a first second step. In average by 10. 
Thus initial total COP = 5 + 25/20!


Also the cooling does only count if you can use it. Normally in winter 
you must heat. The optimal solution would be to combine the fridge with 
a heat pump but a good fridge today uses only 300W/day




J.W.

On 10.05.2024 03:49, Jonathan Berry wrote:

Not sure why but this isn't forming into proper paragraphs...

/
/

/"Youtube physics usually is self satisfaction of people that have no 
clue of the simplest things. So I almost never watch this garbage."/


The video is covering the work of a company cascading heat pumps.
As such the temperature differential over each heat pump is a fraction 
of the total over all the heatpumps, there is a potential feedback 
instability effect they have resolved.


But cascaded heatpumps are an accepted thing with improved COP over a 
given total temperature difference and the video isn't making claims 
about the second law, that's me, and well Carnot...

/
/
/"A heatpump is not a Carnot process as *you obviously supply 
additional energy*!"/


It is a carnot process though and the carnot process gives us the 
efficiency limit.


A reversible heat engine if you supply it with kinetic energy can 
generate a temperature differential, this is why it is called 
reversible, you don't get energy from it, you reverse it and put 
energy in to move heat.


To do this you obviously need to supply it with energy just as we do 
with a heat pump.


/"You must calculate in the Carnot conversion rate of energy gained 
--> electricity to get the proper conversion factor as the current for 
the heatpump must be produced too* and subtracted!"*/


Yes, however the COP of a heat pump (electrical power in .vs heat 
energy gain on the hot side) over a low temperature differential can 
be 5, 10, or 30 or potentially more if the temperature differential is 
low enough.


Note that in a single stage heatpump we can actually double that COP 
by just counting both the hot and cold outputs as both being 
beneficial outputs!


If a heatpump can deliver four times more thermal energy than the 
power going in (and for now assuming the heat from the input power is 
not seeping inside) then wit has a COP of 4, but we ignore the cooling 
COP of 4 on the other side, that is "free cold" and in terms of a 
temperature differential to put a heat engine on both are sources of 
energy, but between the hot and cold sides is a higher conversion 
efficiency than between the hot and ambient and the cold and ambient.


Which is the point I am making, if you divide the heat potential the 
COP of the heat moving ability of a heat engine or heat pump it 
improves relative to the energy it takes to drive it.



/"The best Carnot process (multi stage turbines) today delivers a 
conversion rate of about 61% always target is current."/


61% is a fine conversion of heat to to energy since heatpumps can 
manage a COP of 30!


https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/recompression COP 
30 "typically COP of 10–30 can be achieved" with a MVR heatpump.


https://www.gea.com/en/assets/304829/  COP 20

You can have 30 times more heat energy moved and that's just looking 
at the heat energy gain, ignoring the energy below ambient on the cold 
side, so with that a COP of 60!...


Now granted my whole point is not that this if done with a single 
heatpump it would not be efficient when you run steam turbines over 
1C, 10C or so, so it does not matter how well it was design, because 
to gain efficiency for conversion of thermal energy we need as great a 
temperature difference as possible, but there is no reason we can't 
put multiple heat pumps in series each working over a small 
temperature range just as we put batteries in series.


And we can do the same with heat engines which are just Carnot heat 
engines under a different name not designed to be reversible but 
conceivably can be redesigned to be reversible.



And again, the point of this post is to point it out from the other 
direction, according to Carnot if a reversible heat engine can be made 
more or less efficient (while still not having frictional losses, poor 
thermal insulation etc) then the second law would fail.


And as putting two in series makes it less efficient (as Carnot would 
himself assert if he had thought if it and apparently he managed not 
to)...  well then the second law fails, it CANNOT be true if this is a 
reversible heat engine, AKA, a heat pump, as a 

Re: [Vo]:If 2 heat engines are placed in series their efficiency is lower, and the second law breaks according to Carnot if that can occur!

2024-05-09 Thread Jonathan Berry
Oh I missed the end:

"Heatpumps are reverse Carnot engines and have a much higher COP in respect
to heat gained but *not to current gained!!!"*
Current?
I'm not sure what you mean by this, you might be talking about the volume
of thermal energy moved, or you might be talking about the electrical
current, neither makes sense to me so I'll pass.

But I will agree that heatpumps as reverse Carnot engines have a much
higher COP as in they produce a large "current" of thermal energy at a low
"potential" very efficiently, as the thermal hill grows the efficiency as a
heat pump drops.
Requiring more electrical current input.

Nope, no idea what you are talking about.

"Even more interesting are quantum level processes in nano particles where
one could achieve the doubling of IR photon energy by suppressing some
emission bands. This could be used in solar panels."

Well there is also a picowatt LED that makes the air colder and emits more
light energy than electrical energy put into it.

On Fri, 10 May 2024 at 13:49, Jonathan Berry 
wrote:

> Not sure why but this isn't forming into proper paragraphs...
>
>
> *"Youtube physics usually is self satisfaction of people that have no clue
> of the simplest things. So I almost never watch this garbage."*
> The video is covering the work of a company cascading heat pumps.
> As such the temperature differential over each heat pump is a fraction of
> the total over all the heatpumps, there is a potential feedback instability
> effect they have resolved.
>
> But cascaded heatpumps are an accepted thing with improved COP over a
> given total temperature difference and the video isn't making claims about
> the second law, that's me, and well Carnot...
>
> *"A heatpump is not a Carnot process as you obviously supply additional
> energy!"*
>
> It is a carnot process though and the carnot process gives us the
> efficiency limit.
>
> A reversible heat engine if you supply it with kinetic energy can generate
> a temperature differential, this is why it is called reversible, you don't
> get energy from it, you reverse it and put energy in to move heat.
>
> To do this you obviously need to supply it with energy just as we do with
> a heat pump.
>
> *"You must calculate in the Carnot conversion rate of energy gained -->
> electricity to get the proper conversion factor as the current for the
> heatpump must be produced too and subtracted!"*
>
> Yes, however the COP of a heat pump (electrical power in .vs heat energy
> gain on the hot side) over a low temperature differential can be 5, 10, or
> 30 or potentially more if the temperature differential is low enough.
>
> Note that in a single stage heatpump we can actually double that COP by
> just counting both the hot and cold outputs as both being beneficial
> outputs!
>
> If a heatpump can deliver four times more thermal energy than the power
> going in (and for now assuming the heat from the input power is not seeping
> inside) then wit has a COP of 4, but we ignore the cooling COP of 4 on the
> other side, that is "free cold" and in terms of a temperature differential
> to put a heat engine on both are sources of energy, but between the hot and
> cold sides is a higher conversion efficiency than between the hot and
> ambient and the cold and ambient.
>
> Which is the point I am making, if you divide the heat potential the COP
> of the heat moving ability of a heat engine or heat pump it improves
> relative to the energy it takes to drive it.
>
>
> *"The best Carnot process (multi stage turbines) today delivers a
> conversion rate of about 61% always target is current."*
>
> 61% is a fine conversion of heat to to energy since heatpumps can manage a
> COP of 30!
>
> https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/recompression  COP
> 30 "typically COP of 10–30 can be achieved" with a MVR heatpump.
>
> https://www.gea.com/en/assets/304829/   COP 20
>
> You can have 30 times more heat energy moved and that's just looking at
> the heat energy gain, ignoring the energy below ambient on the cold side,
> so with that a COP of 60!...
>
> Now granted my whole point is not that this if done with a single heatpump
> it would not be efficient when you run steam turbines over 1C, 10C or so,
> so it does not matter how well it was design, because to gain efficiency
> for conversion of thermal energy we need as great a temperature difference
> as possible, but there is no reason we can't put multiple heat pumps in
> series each working over a small temperature range just as we put batteries
> in series.
>
> And we can do the same with heat engines which are just Carnot heat
> engines under a different name not designed to be reversible but
> conceivably can be redesigned to be reversible.
>
>
> And again, the point of this post is to point it out from the other
> direction, according to Carnot if a reversible heat engine can be made more
> or less efficient (while still not having frictional losses, poor thermal
> insulation etc) then the 

Re: [Vo]:If 2 heat engines are placed in series their efficiency is lower, and the second law breaks according to Carnot if that can occur!

2024-05-09 Thread Jonathan Berry
Not sure why but this isn't forming into proper paragraphs...


*"Youtube physics usually is self satisfaction of people that have no clue
of the simplest things. So I almost never watch this garbage."*
The video is covering the work of a company cascading heat pumps.
As such the temperature differential over each heat pump is a fraction of
the total over all the heatpumps, there is a potential feedback instability
effect they have resolved.

But cascaded heatpumps are an accepted thing with improved COP over a given
total temperature difference and the video isn't making claims about the
second law, that's me, and well Carnot...

*"A heatpump is not a Carnot process as you obviously supply additional
energy!"*

It is a carnot process though and the carnot process gives us the
efficiency limit.

A reversible heat engine if you supply it with kinetic energy can generate
a temperature differential, this is why it is called reversible, you don't
get energy from it, you reverse it and put energy in to move heat.

To do this you obviously need to supply it with energy just as we do with a
heat pump.

*"You must calculate in the Carnot conversion rate of energy gained -->
electricity to get the proper conversion factor as the current for the
heatpump must be produced too and subtracted!"*

Yes, however the COP of a heat pump (electrical power in .vs heat energy
gain on the hot side) over a low temperature differential can be 5, 10, or
30 or potentially more if the temperature differential is low enough.

Note that in a single stage heatpump we can actually double that COP by
just counting both the hot and cold outputs as both being beneficial
outputs!

If a heatpump can deliver four times more thermal energy than the power
going in (and for now assuming the heat from the input power is not seeping
inside) then wit has a COP of 4, but we ignore the cooling COP of 4 on the
other side, that is "free cold" and in terms of a temperature differential
to put a heat engine on both are sources of energy, but between the hot and
cold sides is a higher conversion efficiency than between the hot and
ambient and the cold and ambient.

Which is the point I am making, if you divide the heat potential the COP of
the heat moving ability of a heat engine or heat pump it improves relative
to the energy it takes to drive it.


*"The best Carnot process (multi stage turbines) today delivers a
conversion rate of about 61% always target is current."*

61% is a fine conversion of heat to to energy since heatpumps can manage a
COP of 30!

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/recompression  COP
30 "typically COP of 10–30 can be achieved" with a MVR heatpump.

https://www.gea.com/en/assets/304829/   COP 20

You can have 30 times more heat energy moved and that's just looking at the
heat energy gain, ignoring the energy below ambient on the cold side, so
with that a COP of 60!...

Now granted my whole point is not that this if done with a single heatpump
it would not be efficient when you run steam turbines over 1C, 10C or so,
so it does not matter how well it was design, because to gain efficiency
for conversion of thermal energy we need as great a temperature difference
as possible, but there is no reason we can't put multiple heat pumps in
series each working over a small temperature range just as we put batteries
in series.

And we can do the same with heat engines which are just Carnot heat engines
under a different name not designed to be reversible but conceivably can be
redesigned to be reversible.


And again, the point of this post is to point it out from the other
direction, according to Carnot if a reversible heat engine can be made more
or less efficient (while still not having frictional losses, poor thermal
insulation etc) then the second law would fail.

And as putting two in series makes it less efficient (as Carnot would
himself assert if he had thought if it and apparently he managed not
to)...  well then the second law fails, it CANNOT be true if this is a
reversible heat engine, AKA, a heat pump, as a less efficient heat engine
is a more efficient heat pump!

That is the message of Carnot's theorem, but another thing of Carnot's is
the equation that tells us the efficiency of a heat engine.

 η = 1 - Tc / Th

We take the cold temp in Kelvin, divide it by the hot temp and then
subtract the result from 1 then multiply by 100 to get our efficiency in
percent.

So at -200C on the cold side and -190C on the "hot' side we have, after
adding 273.15 K  73.15 K which we divide by  83.15 =  0.8797354179194227
subtracted from 1 gives us a  0.12 which we multiply be 100 to get the
percent: 12% efficiency.

Interestingly if we drop the cold side to 0.0001 K and the hot side to 10 K
we get 0.1 which subtracted from 1 x 100 gives us an efficiency of
99.9%!  At just 10C (K) difference!

Just why the cold side being almost perfectly cold skyrockets the
theoretical conversion efficiency... I am not clear on.  And 

Re: [Vo]:If 2 heat engines are placed in series their efficiency is lower, and the second law breaks according to Carnot if that can occur!

2024-05-09 Thread Jürg Wyttenbach
Youtube physics usually is self satisfaction of people that have no clue 
of the simplest things. So I almost never watch this garbage.


A heatpump is not a Carnot process as *you obviously supply additional 
energy*! You must calculate in the Carnot conversion rate of energy 
gained --> electricity to get the proper conversion factor as the 
current for the heatpump must be produced too*and subtracted! *


The best Carnot process (multi stage turbines) today delivers a 
conversion rate of about 61% always target is current.


But there have been some materials detected that can improve this 
further like thermo (Peltier-)  elements.



Heatpumps are reverse Carnot engines and have a much higher COP in 
respect to heat gained but *not to current gained!!!*


Even more interesting are quantum level processes in nano particles 
where one could achieve the doubling of IR photon energy by suppressing 
some emission bands. This could be used in solar panels.


J.W.

On 09.05.2024 14:39, Jonathan Berry wrote:

After 200 years (1824) the second law of thermodynamics is disproven.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnot%27s_theorem_(thermodynamics)

Simply Carnot argues that if the efficiency of a reversible heat 
engine was variable based on how it is made or the gases etc, then the 
second law of conservation would be broken.


"A heat engine *cannot* drive a less-efficient reversible heat engine 
without _violating the second law of thermodynamics_." (excerpt from 
the Wikipedia article below the image)


So what happens when you take 2 reversible heat engines and put them 
in series (one touches the hot side, one the cold side and they join 
in the middle with potentially a small thermal mass that is 
thermally equidistant to the hot and cold side)???


Well, we know what happens, according to Carnot!
The lower the thermal potential the lower the efficiency at turning 
heat into mechanical energy and therefore the less mechanical energy 
is developed when driving heat (operating the heat engine as a heat 
pump)...
Which is to say that with a lower temperature differential a heatpump 
operates with more efficiency.


So a heat engine constructed to act like 2 or more reversible heat 
engines will break the conservation of energy.


There is a company that is making cascading heatpumps which can keep a 
high COP over a much larger temperature differential.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSgv5NwtByk

The point is that it is absolutely possible to turn uniform ambient 
heat into electrical power and heating and or cooling with current 
technology...
And it is easily explained in a way that cannot be denied, clearly 2 
heatpumps cascading have a higher COP, same as saying clearly 2 
reversible heat engines in series have a lower conversion efficiency 
and therefor a higher COP as a hatpump, precisely the scenario that 
made Carnot assert 200 years ago would destroy the second law of 
thermodynamics.


Jonathan


--
Jürg Wyttenbach
Bifangstr. 22
8910 Affoltern am Albis

+41 44 760 14 18
+41 79 246 36 06


[Vo]:If 2 heat engines are placed in series their efficiency is lower, and the second law breaks according to Carnot if that can occur!

2024-05-09 Thread Jonathan Berry
After 200 years (1824) the second law of thermodynamics is disproven.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnot%27s_theorem_(thermodynamics)

Simply Carnot argues that if the efficiency of a reversible heat engine was
variable based on how it is made or the gases etc, then the second law of
conservation would be broken.

"A heat engine *cannot* drive a less-efficient reversible heat engine
without *violating the second law of thermodynamics*." (excerpt from the
Wikipedia article below the image)

So what happens when you take 2 reversible heat engines and put them in
series (one touches the hot side, one the cold side and they join in the
middle with potentially a small thermal mass that is
thermally equidistant to the hot and cold side)???

Well, we know what happens, according to Carnot!
The lower the thermal potential the lower the efficiency at turning heat
into mechanical energy and therefore the less mechanical energy is
developed when driving heat (operating the heat engine as a heat pump)...
Which is to say that with a lower temperature differential a heatpump
operates with more efficiency.

So a heat engine constructed to act like 2 or more reversible heat engines
will break the conservation of energy.

There is a company that is making cascading heatpumps which can keep a high
COP over a much larger temperature differential.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSgv5NwtByk

The point is that it is absolutely possible to turn uniform ambient heat
into electrical power and heating and or cooling with current technology...
And it is easily explained in a way that cannot be denied, clearly 2
heatpumps cascading have a higher COP, same as saying clearly 2 reversible
heat engines in series have a lower conversion efficiency and therefor a
higher COP as a hatpump, precisely the scenario that made Carnot assert 200
years ago would destroy the second law of thermodynamics.

Jonathan