A Sankey diagram gives a visual illustration of an input/output situation.

It is drawn to scale -
there are lots of variations as to how they are drawn - only thing they have in common is that the
width of the 'arms' represents the energy transferred but the length of the 'arms' does not!

Sankey diagrams allow us to visualize flow through a process or system more easily than a
table of numerical data can.

They show not only the energy transfers involved but also the quantitative distribution of values
in the transfers.

Sankey diagrams do add an 'indisputable expressive power to mathematical rendering of a

system'. When constructed properly, Sankey diagrams represent flow in a manner that can be
perceived by anyone, instantly.

However, Sankey diagrams can be difficult, time-consuming, and uninteresting to produce by

hand - very tedious to draw! The benefits of being able to generate these diagrams automatically,
anytime, are obvious to anyone who has tried to draw one and commercial computer packages
for their production are available.

They are used not only in physics and engineering to demonstate how energy is distributed but
also for cash flow in businesses.

In the AQA GCSE there is a specific way in which the Sankey diagrams is to be drawn.

The input is from the left of the diagram.

The wanted (useful) output is to the right.
All unwanted (wasted) output is made to go vertically down.

Remember the total input always equals the total output - but an efficient system will have a
high percentage of useful output.

Electric lamps
Ordinary electric lamps contain a thin metal filament that glows when electricity passes through
it. However, most of the electrical energy is transferred as heat energy instead of light energy.
This is the Sankey diagram for a typical filament lamp.
Sankey diagram for a filament lamp

Modern energy-saving lamps and LEDs (light-emitting diodes) work in a different way: they
transfer a greater proportion of electrical energy as light energy. This is the Sankey diagram for a
typical energy-saving lamp.

Sankey diagram for a typical energy-saving lamp

From the diagram, you can see that much less electrical energy is transferred, or 'wasted', as heat
energy from the energy-saving lamp. It's more efficient than the filament lamp.

The Sankey diagram is very useful tool to represent an entire input and output energy flow in any
energy equipment or system such as boiler, fired heaters, furnaces after carrying out energy
balance calculation. This diagram represents visually various outputs and losses so that energy
managers can focus on finding improvements in a prioritized manner.

Example: The Figure 4.2 shows a Sankey diagram for a reheating furnace. From the Figure 4.2,
it is clear that exhaust flue gas losses are a key area for priority attention. Since the furnaces
operate at high temperatures, the exhaust gases leave at high tempertures resulting in poor
efficiency. Hence a heat recovery device such as air preheater has to be necessarily part of the
system. The lower the exhaust temperature, higher is the furnace efficiency.