Evolution of thermodynamic modelling for three and four heat reservoirs reverse cycle machines: A review and new trends

Thermodynamics is an important tool for modelling a reverse cycle machine. To the classical approach to equilibrium Thermodynamics, must be added a more recent one referring to new tendencies in thermodynamics; this new appraisal starts in the eighties with the work of C.H. Blanchard and the author. Here, a review of these new tendencies and the consequences for the corresponding reverse machines (refrigerating machine; heat pump; air conditioning; heat transformer) is proposed.