Named after the French scientist Nicolas Carnot, the ideal Carnot cycle converts a maximum fraction of heat input into work. In this process, work is delivered without heat exchange and without losses, and heat is added and taken out without any change in temperature. As a reference process, the Carnot cycle illustrates fundamental knowledge about the thermodynamics of energy conversion (Hahne 2004; Meyer and Schiffner 1989; Strauß 2006). The Carnot cycle combines two process steps with isentropic changes of state and two process steps with isothermal changes of state to form a closed reversible cycle.