| Summary: | A unified optimization criterion for Carnot engines and refrigerators is proposed. It consists of maximizing the product of the heat absorbed by the working system times the efficiency per unit time of the device, either the engine or the refrigerator. This criterion can be applied to both low symmetric dissipation Carnot engines and refrigerators. For engines the criterion coincides with the maximum power criterion and then the Curzon-Ahlborn efficiency ? CA=1-vT c/T h is recovered, where T h and T c are the temperatures of the hot and cold reservoirs, respectively. For refrigerators the criterion provides the counterpart of Curzon-Ahlborn efficiency for refrigerators > CA=[1/ (v1-(T c/T h)]-1, first derived by Yan and Chen for the particular case of an endoreversible Carnot-type refrigerator with linear (Newtonian) finite heat transfer laws. © 2012 American Physical Society.
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