Working Fluid (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! A working fluid is a pressurized gas or liquid that actuates a machine. Examples include steam in a steam engine, air in a hot air engine and hydraulic fluid in a hydraulic motor or hydraulic cylinder. More generally, in a thermodynamic system, the working fluid is a liquid or gas that absorbs or transmits energy. The working fluid properties are essential for the full description of thermodynamic systems. Although working fluids have a very large number of physical properties which can be defined, the thermodynamic properties which are often required in engineering design and analysis are few. Pressure, temperature, enthalpy, entropy, specific volume and internal energy are the most common.