Olsen cycle

The Olsen cycle is a pyroelectric cycle, which was developed between 1978 and 1986 by Olsen and Bruno,^[1] by Olsen and Brown,^[2] Olsen and Evans,^[3] as well as by Olsen et al.^[4] It has been called the Ericsson cycle. However, the Olsen cycle avoids the least confusion with its analogous process of the Ericsson cycle.^[5] The Olsen cycle can generate electricity directly from heat when applied to a pyroelectric material,^[6] and has been the most favorable method for the generation of electricity from heat using pyroelectric energy harvesting.^[7] It consists of two isothermal and two isoelectric field processes in the displacement versus electric field diagram.^[8]

The Ericsson cycle is analogous to the Olsen cycle.

It can be compared to the Ericsson cycle, where working fluid undergoes two isothermal and two isobaric processes in a pressure-volume diagram.^[9][10] However, the Ericsson cycle does not include the hysteresis loop, which is essentially a lag between the input of an electric field and the material's output.