Lesson plan

Ericsson cycle

at the top-right. The air is compressed by the piston (black) as the piston moves upward. The compressed air is stored in the pneumatic tank (at left). A two-way valve (gray) moves downward to allow pressurized air to pass through the regenerator where it is preheated. The air then enters the space below the piston, which is an externally heated expansion-chamber. The air expands and does work on the piston as it moves upward. After the expansion stroke, the two-way valve moves upward, thus closing off the tank and opening the exhaust port. As the piston moves back downward in the exhaust stroke, hot air is pushed back through the regenerator, which reclaims most of the heat, before passing out the exhaust port (left) as cool air. The Ericsson cycle is named after inventor John Ericsson who designed and built many unique heat engines based on various thermodynamic cycles. He is credited with inventing two unique heat engine cycles and developing practical engines based on these cycles. His first cycle is now known as the closed Brayton cycle, while his second cycle is what is now called the Ericsson cycle. Ericsson is one of the few who built open-cycle engines, but he also built closed-cycle ones.

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Article summary

at the top-right. The air is compressed by the piston (black) as the piston moves upward. The compressed air is stored in the pneumatic tank (at left). A two-way valve (gray) moves downward to allow pressurized air to pass through the regenerator where it is preheated. The air then enters the space below the piston, which is an externally heated expansion-chamber. The air expands and does work on the piston as it moves upward. After the expansion stroke, the two-way valve moves upward, thus closing off the tank and opening the exhaust port. As the piston moves back downward in the exhaust stroke, hot air is pushed back through the regenerator, which reclaims most of the heat, before passing out the exhaust port (left) as cool air. The Ericsson cycle is named after inventor John Ericsson who designed and built many unique heat engines based on various thermodynamic cycles. He is credited with inventing two unique heat engine cycles and developing practical engines based on these cycles. His first cycle is now known as the closed Brayton cycle, while his second cycle is what is now called the Ericsson cycle. Ericsson is one of the few who built open-cycle engines, but he also built closed-cycle ones.

Key claims

  1. publication date: 1972 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  2. publication date: 1999 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the publication date is "1972". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. The record states that the publication date is "1999". What evidence would count against this claim?
  4. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  5. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1325455223

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.