A Triangle Cycle with a piston engine expansion unit is used to convert low temperature heat into electrical energy. In this process, the isentropic efficiency of the expansion unit is considered to be unknown, and a theoretical approach for the calculation of isentropic efficiency is presented. A number of influences are taken into account dead volume, residual mass, liquid injection performance and wall heat transfer. Various working fluids are investigated in a wide range of temperatures (333K-573K), engine speeds (5 Hz-30 Hz) and stroke volumes (0.1 L-50 L). The isentropic efficiency of water as working fluid is in the range of 0.75-0.88 and drops significantly for high stroke volumes and engine speeds. In general, injection mass has the most impact on isentropic efficiency because it influences dead volume and injection performance. The injection mass increases with vapor density and therefore is significantly influenced by working fluid and temperatures. The Triangle Cycle is compared with Organic Rankine Cycles by using determined isentropic efficiency. The exergetic efficiency of the Triangle Cycle using water is up to 35-70% higher than that of supercritical Organic Rankine Cycles in situations with a heat source temperature of up to 450K. (c) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.