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Efficiency |
Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Financial, Wikipedia, Hutchinson | 0.04 sec. |
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efficiency. 1 In business and industry, see industrial management industrial management, term applied to highly organized modern methods of carrying on industrial, especially manufacturing, operations.
2 In physics, seemachine machine, arrangement of moving and stationary mechanical parts used to perform some useful work or to provide transportation. From a historical perspective, many of the first machines were the result of human efforts to improve war-making capabilities; the term efficiencyor mechanical efficiencyIn mechanics, the measure of the effectiveness with which a system performs. It is stated as the ratio of a system's work output to its work input. The efficiency of a real system is always less than 1 because of friction between moving parts. A machine with an efficiency of 0.8 returns 80% of the work input as work output; the remaining 20% is used to overcome friction. In a theoretically frictionless, or ideal, machine, the work input and work output are equal, and the efficiency would be 1, or 100%. Efficiency The ratio, expressed as a percentage, of the output to the input of power (energy or work per unit time). As is common in engineering, this concept is defined precisely and made measurable. Thus, a gear transmission is 97% efficient when the useful energy output is 97% of the input, the other 3% being lost as heat due to friction. A boiler is 75% efficient when its product (steam) contains 75% of the heat theoretically contained in the fuel consumed. All automobile engines have low efficiency (below 30%) because of the total energy content of fuel converted to heat; only a portion provides motive power, while a substantial amount is lost in radiator and car exhaust. How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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Both The Solaire and The Verdesian utilize natural materials and sophisticated technologies to optimize resident comfort, maximize operational efficiencies and enhance indoor air quality, while conserving natural resources. New's recent tests of 496 Chevrolet engines on well sites showed they could be hand tuned to the same high efficiencies as electronically controlled engines, but logic and experience tell him they probably can't operate at those peak levels at all times without electronic control. Now they report efficiencies above those of current LEDs from a new family of materials called poly(cyanoterephthalylidene)s. |
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