Physics Asked by Dallas on December 26, 2020
An 8.3 EER 1200 W air conditioner will move 10000 BTU of heat per hour. 1 BTU is 1055 J of heat. Per second this is moving 2930 W of heat energy. It is possible to get them even more efficient e.g. 12 EER.
This means 4130 W of heating on hot side, and 2930 W of cooling on cold side.
The heating side of the air conditioner is used to boil water to power a steam turbine. The cooling side is used to produce coolant.
A condensing steam turbine is approx 40% efficient, so the 4130 W of heat will produce 1652 W of electricity, and 2478 W of heat.
The 2478 W of heat is cancelled by the coolant, with 452 W of cooling left over.
The 1200 W of power needed by the air conditioner is cancelled by the turbine, with 452 W of electricity left over.
The excess cold can be released into the environment or used some other way, and the excess power put into the power grid.
I was thinking about this while playing the computer game Oxygen not Included, and wondered if such a machine could exist in reality?
No, such a machine cannot exist in reality. One critical thing that you neglected in your analysis is the temperature. Every heat engine or heat pump has a hot side and a cold side. The efficiency depends strongly on the temperature difference. The heat pump operates with a much lower heat difference than the steam engine. If you run it at the larger difference as you described then it will be nowhere near as efficient as you quoted.
Correct answer by Dale on December 26, 2020
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