heat engine
1
5.0
- noun
- /hiːt ˈɛnʤɪn/
- Specialized
:
motor térmico
- A heat engine converts the heat from burning fuel into mechanical energy that can power a vehicle.
Examples
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Without light in the ocean, life on Earth could not exist, nor would there be fuel for the heat engine that drives the ocean's currents and the atmosphere's circulation.
Academic text (2011) -
Unlike photovoltaics, solar power towers use heat engines such as air gas turbines or steam turbines to make electricity.
Academic text (2012) -
The very best heat engines we have are about 60% efficient.
Blog text (16) -
To be sure, there was nothing magical about the 60 percent efficiency mark for a heat engine.
Academic text (2012) -
Although fuel cells are more efficient, there are also good reasons for burning hydrogen in heat engines for transportation.
Academic text (2004) -
All thermodynamic processes involve the transfer of heat, and the climate system is just another heat engine.
Blog text (32) -
As a heat engine, ENSO has a continuously operating "boiler" in the equatorial western Pacific.
Blog text (5) -
Therefore, the efficiency of the heat engine that burns the UCG will be much less, besides requiring more energy for CCS.
Blog text (32) -
Because heat engines are used, the power conversion efficiencies are two to three times better than for photovoltaic arrays.
Academic text (2012) -
The global energy system is mostly based on fossil fuels—coal, petroleum, and natural gas—that are burned to power heat engines, to fuel automobiles, or to provide sensible heat.
Academic text (2012)
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining 'heat' (thermal energy) with 'engine' (a machine that converts energy); a B1 learner who knows both words can infer that a 'heat engine' is a machine that uses heat to produce work. This compositional pattern is common and mirrored in other languages (e.g. 'machine thermique', 'motor térmico'), so the sense is predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
The compound heat engine comes from the simple image of a machine that runs on heat. Here heat means hot energy and engine means a machine, so the name literally describes a machine that uses heat to make movement, which is why it means 'a device that turns heat into motion'.