Problem Description

A refrigerator in a kitchen dissipates heat to the kitchen air through the fin coil unit located on the back of the refrigerator. If a heat engine is operating between the fin coil unit and the surrounding air, can it generate power?

What is known:

• The coefficient of performance (COP) of the refrigerator is 3.0.
• The power input to the refrigerator is 1.0 kW.
• The average surface temperature of the fin coil unit is 30 ^oC.
• The kitchen air temperature is 20^oC.

• Determine the heat dissipated from the the fin coil unit, which is the heat input to the heat engine.
• Assume the heat engine is a Carnot heat engine. Its thermal efficiency is determined by
  η_th,rev. = 1 - T_L/T_H