Figure 2
From: Carnot efficiency is reachable in an irreversible process
Schematics of the pawl-open and pawl-closed states. (a) Pawl-open state (y > h). (b) Pawl-closed state (y ≤ h). (c) Potential in the pawl-open state. Only a linear potential with slope F is felt by the vanes. (d) Potential in the pawl-closed state when nx 0 ≤ x < (n + 1)x 0 (n is an integer). An infinite potential wall at nx 0 prevents a backward hop. There are two regions: the no-collision (nx 0 < x < nx 0 + a) and collision regions (nx 0 + a ≤ x < (n + 1)x 0), depending on whether a collision between the vanes and the pawl takes place. U 0 is the potential energy of the pawl at y = h.
