Prologue: The Iterative Prayer
In the dim glow of a control room, numbers danced across the black screen. Mass flow, enthalpy, exergy — each variable whispering balance, demanding attention. I sat there with nothing but Excel, a Gauss–Seidel loop, and the hum of a boiler miles away. It wasn’t just math; it was communion with a machine that breathed in coal and exhaled light.
Chapter I: The Manual Gospel
CycleTempo ran its calculations like a cathedral organ, precise and grand. But I trusted my hands on the spreadsheet, cell by cell, iteration by iteration. Jacobi was the slow psalm, Gauss–Seidel the responsive litany. With every pass, the cycle whispered: “Are you balanced now? Does entropy rest?”
Chapter II: The Smell of Steam
Coal dust clung to the air outside the plant. The turbine screamed in metallic prayer. Inside the diagram, numbers shifted: 335.00 K here, 11,772 kW there. It wasn’t sterile. It smelled of ash, heat, and human intent — equations written in fire.
Chapter III: The Dialogue
Excel was no longer software; it was a slate. Gauss–Seidel was not an algorithm; it was a question asked over and over until the plant answered. Δh, ΔT, η — they became more than symbols. They became the language of a living cycle.
Epilogue: Between Coal and Code
Years later, I open the same diagram and still hear the hum. Not just the turbine, but the quiet conversation between man, machine, and math. In the end, every megawatt is a hymn. And every balanced cell is a small act of worship in the Church of Thermodynamics.