SEMINAR REPORT

ON

WORKING AND PERFOMANCE OF A

THERMOACOUSTIC REFRIGERATOR
Submitted by
JEFFY SCARIA
REG NO: A9ENME2718
To The Kannur Univeristy

in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the award of the degree of
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
in
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

LBS COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING KASARAGOD
KASARAGOD-671542, KERALA

March 2013

DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the
best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously
published or written by another person nor material which has been
accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of this Institute or
other Institute of higher learning, except where due acknowledgement has
been made in the text.

PLACE:

NAME:

DATE:

REG NO:

CERTIFICATE
Certified that this report entitled WORKING AND PERFOMANCE OF A
THERMOACOUSTIC REFRIGERATOR is the paper presented by JEFFY
SCARIA, Reg.no.A9ENME2718 in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award
of the Degree of Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering by the University
of Kannur.

Faculty In charge

Place:
Date:

Head of the Dept.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. ANILKUMAR B.C
Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering for his valuable guidance
and suggestions. And I am highly grateful to Dr. MOHAMMED SHEKOOR T, Head
of department, Mechanical Engineering and Mr. SREEJITH M, Assistant Professor,
Department of Mechanical Engineering for their kind support and encouragement.
I would also like to thank all my friends for their whole-hearted co-operation
and involvement for the completion of this seminar.

ABSTRACT
In recent years environmental aspects have become an important issue in the
design and development of refrigeration systems. Current research efforts concentrate
both on the development of alternative refrigerants as well as alternative technologies,
such as Stirling engines, pulse-tube refrigerators, thermoelectric refrigerators etc., which
can reduce the need for hazardous refrigerants. One promising approach in the category
of alternative technologies is thermoacoustic refrigeration. Thermoacoustics have been
known for over years but the use of this phenomenon to develop engines and pumps is
fairly recent. Thermoacoustic refrigeration is one such phenomenon that uses high
intensity sound waves in a pressurized gas tube to pump heat from one place to other to
produce refrigeration effect. In this type of refrigeration all sorts of conventional
refrigerants are eliminated and sound waves take their place. All we need is a loud
speaker and an acoustically insulated tube. Also this system completely eliminates the
need for lubricants since it has little or no moving parts. Thermoacoustic heat engines
have the advantage of operating with inert gases making them ideal candidate for
environmentally-safe refrigeration with almost zero maintenance cost. This paper deals
with the working of a thermoacoustic refrigerator and its performance with respect to
some critical operating parameters.

CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................6
2. THERMOACOUSTIC EFFECT..................................................................................................7
3. BASIC PARTS OF TAR...............................................................................................................7
3.1

Acoustic driver.................................................................................................................8

3.2

Working Gas.....................................................................................................................9

3.3

Stack.................................................................................................................................9

3.4

Resonator........................................................................................................................10

3.5

Heat Exchanger...............................................................................................................11

4. WORKING.................................................................................................................................12
4.1 A Simple Invisid Model of the Thermoacoustic Heat Pumping Process...............................13
5. IMPORTANT PARAMETERS...................................................................................................16
3.6

Average pressure.............................................................................................................16

3.7

Frequency.......................................................................................................................17

3.8

Dynamic pressure...........................................................................................................17

6. PERFORMANCE.......................................................................................................................18
7. TEST RESULTS.........................................................................................................................20
8. BENEFITS.................................................................................................................................23
9. TECHNICAL ISSUES...............................................................................................................24
10. APPLICATIONS......................................................................................................................25
11. CONCLUSIONS......................................................................................................................27
12. CURRENT RESEARCH..........................................................................................................28
REFERENCES...............................................................................................................................29

1. INTRODUCTION
It is becoming increasingly important in the design and development of
refrigerating systems to consider environmental impacts. To eliminate the use of
environmentally hazardous refrigerants, research efforts are focusing more on the
development of alternative refrigerants and alternative refrigeration technologies.
Conventional refrigeration relies on vapour compression technology, a resource-intensive
process

involving

complex

mechanical

equipment

and

gases

such

as

hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC's) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFC's), which are key

contributors to ozone depletion and global warming.

Thermoacoustics is about the interaction between thermodynamic and acoustic

phenomena.

Thermoacoustics

is

relatively

new

field

of

science

and

engineering.Thermoacoustic engines are thermoacoustic devices which use highamplitude sound waves to pump heat from one place to another, or use a heat temperature
difference to induce high-amplitude sound waves. In general, thermoacoustic engines can
be divided into two thermodynamic classes, a prime mover (or simply heat engine), and a
heat pump. The prime mover creates work using heat and a heat pump creates or moves
heat using work.

Thermoacoustic refrigeration (TAR) was developed during the past two decades
as a new, environmentally safe refrigeration technology. It does not have intricate
mechanical components and ozone depleting gases. TAR uses sound waves in place of a
compressor and a non-flammable medium of inert gas or a mixture of inert gases in a
resonator to produce cooling effect.

2. THERMOACOUSTIC EFFECT
The pressure variations in the acoustic wave are accompanied by temperature
variations due to compressions and expansions of the gas. For a single medium, the
average temperature at a certain location does not change. When a second medium is
present in the form of a solid wall, heat is exchanged with the wall. An expanded gas
parcel will take heat from the wall, while a compressed parcel will reject heat to the wall.

As expansion and compression in an acoustic wave are inherently associated with

a displacement, a net transport of heat results. To fix the direction of heat flow, a standing
wave pattern is generated in an acoustic resonator. The reverse effect also exists: when a
large enough temperature gradient is imposed to the wall, net heat is absorbed and an
acoustic wave is generated, so that heat is converted to work.

3. BASIC PARTS OF TAR

3.1 Acoustic driver

The driver has to provide the total acoustic power used by the stack to transfer
heat and dissipated in the different parts. A higher performance of the driver leads to a
higher performance of the whole refrigerator system. Furthermore, a high performance of
the driver means that the necessary acoustic power can be obtained without using high
electrical currents which can damage the coil .For a sound driven TAR, the most direct
acoustic wave generation device is loudspeaker. But for a micro-style sound driven TAR
the sound power is provided by mini oscillating diaphragm normally. And the main drive
methods of diaphragm include magnetic drive, piezoelectric drive, magnetostrictive drive

The figure illustrates in detail a typical driver and driver housing. It is shown how
the system is mounted. The different components are numbered: (1) Magnet. (2) Coil. (3)
Reducer cone. (4) Accelerometer. (5) Dynamic pressure transducer. (6) Rubber O-ring.
(7) Capillary. (8) Rolling diaphragm. (9) Electrical feed-through plug. (10) Electrical
feed-through plug for the resonator sensors. (11) Bolts to attach the driver to the housing.
(12) Bolts to attach the resonator. (13) Bolts to attach the vacuum vessel. (14) Water
cooling tubes. (15) and (16) Accelerometer signal cables. (17) Dynamic pressure
transducer cable. (18) Connectors.(19) Bolts to attach the lid to the housing. (20) Back
volume control system. (21) Gas fill port. (22) Support system for the accelerometer
cable. (23) Feed through channel for the wires coming from the resonator.
3.2 Working Gas

An inert gas (mostly Helium) is used. The reason for this choice is that helium has
the highest sound velocity and thermal conductivity of all inert gases. Furthermore,
helium is cheap in comparison with the other noble gases. A high thermal conductivity is
wise since the thermal penetration depth is proportional to the square root of the thermal
conductivity coefficient K.

3.3 Stack

As the kernel to thermoacoustic effect, the stack is the most important component
affecting the performance of a TAR. The heat conduction through the stack material and
gas in the stack region has a negative effect on the performance of the refrigerator. The
stack material must have a low thermal conductivity and a heat capacity larger than the
heat capacity of the working gas, in order that the temperature of the stack plates is
steady. At the respective ends of the stack, a heat exchanger corresponding to the high
temperature side and a heat exchanger corresponding to the low temperature side are
wound. There are many geometries which the stack can have: spiral, parallel plates,
circular pores, pin arrays, triangularpores, etc. the factors to be considered while
designing stack are:

Gap Size

Material properties

Material thickness

Location inside the resonator

Length

The common choices for the material of stack are Mylar, Lexan, paper, foam,
aluminium screens etc.
3.4 Resonator

TAR made up of tubes can work steadily on a specifically working frequency, we

call it resonators. Commonly, the conversion from heat energy to mechanical energy may
be explained by thermodynamics, but the transport of sound energy and the maintenance
of sound field are related to the structure of resonator. The length and shape of the
resonator affects the cooling effect. The resonator consists of a large-diameter tube which
contains the stack. The inert gas or gas mixture is filled inside the resonator. The
resonator is designed in order that the length, weight, shape and the losses are optimal.
The resonator has to be compact, light, and strong enough. The shape and length are
determined by the resonance frequency and minimal losses at the wall of the resonator.
So the main factors to be considered while choosing a resonator are:

Length

Diameter

Sound Reflection

Low Acoustic Losses

Sound Transmission

The acoustic resonator can have a /2- or a /4-length. The viscous and thermal
relaxation dissipation losses take place in the penetration depths, along the surface of the
resonator. A /4-resonator will dissipate only half the energy dissipated by a /2resonator. Hence a /4-resonator is preferable. The optimized shape of a resonator is
given below.

3.5 HeatExchangers
The TAR has two heat exchangers. One at the hot end of the stack called the hot
heat exchanger and the other one near the cold end of the stack, called the cold heat
exchanger. Heat exchangers are necessary to transfer the heat of the thermoacoustic
cooling process. The design of the heat exchangers is a critical task in thermoacoustics.
Little is known about heat transfer in oscillatory flow with zero mean velocity. The
standard steady-flow design methodology for heat exchangers cannot be applied directly.
Furthermore, an understanding of the complex flow patterns at the ends of the stack is
also necessary for the design. The length of the heat exchanger is determined by the

distance over which heat is transferred by gas. The optimum length corresponds to the
peak-to-peak displacement of the gas at the heat exchanger location.
The cold heat exchanger is where we apply the cooling load. The hot heat
exchanger is necessary to remove the heat pumped by the stack and to reject it to the
circulating cooling water. But since the hot heat exchanger has to reject nearly twice the
heat supplied by the cold heat exchanger, the length of the hot heat exchanger should be
twice that of the cold heat exchanger. One of the most commonly used type of heat
exchanger in thermoacoustic systems is micro channel aluminium tube heat exchangers.

4. WORKING
In a nut shell, a thermo acoustic engine converts heat from a high-temperature
source into acoustic power while rejecting waste heat to a low temperature sink. A thermo
acoustic refrigerator does the opposite, using acoustic power to pump heat from a cool
source to a hot sink. These devices perform best when they employ noble gases as their
thermodynamic working fluids. Unlike the chemicals used in refrigeration over the years,
such gases are both nontoxic and environmentally benign. Another appealing feature of
thermo acoustics is that one can easily flange an engine onto a refrigerator, creating a heat
powered cooler with no moving parts at all.

The main components are a closed cylinder, an acoustic driver, aporous

component called a stack, and two heat-exchanger systems. Application of acoustic
waves through a driver such as a loudspeaker makes the gas resonant. As the gas
oscillates back and forth, it creates a temperature difference along the length of the stack.

This temperature change comes from compression and expansion of the gas by the sound
pressure and the rest is a consequence of heat transfer between the gas and the stack. The
temperature difference is used to remove heat from the cold side and reject it at the hot
side of the system. As the gas oscillates back and forth because of the standing sound
wave, it changes in temperature. Much of the temperature change comes from
compression and expansion of the gas by the sound pressure (as always in a sound wave),
and the rest is a consequence of heat transfer between the gas and the stack.

4.1 A Simple Invisid Model of the Thermoacoustic Heat Pumping Process.

A schematic diagram of a simple, one-quarter wavelength thermoacoustic

refrigerator is shown

The thermal penetration depth, k represents the distance over which heat will
diffuse during a time which is on the order of an acoustic period, T = l/f, where f is the
acoustic frequency. It is defined in terms of the thermal conductivity of the gas, K , the gas
density, m, and its isobaric specific heat (per unit mass), Cp.

This length scale is crucial to understanding the performance of the

thermoacoustic cycle since the diffusive heat transport between the gas and the "stack" is
only significant within this region. It is for that reason that the stack and the spacing
between its plates are central to the thermoacoustic cycle.

For this analysis we will focus our attention on a small portion of a single plate
surface from the solid stack material is small enough that a substantial amount of thermal
conduction can take place in an amount of time which is on the order of the acoustic

period. In the lower half of Figure, a small portion of the stack has been magnified and a
parcel of gas undergoing an acoustic oscillation is shown. The four steps in the cycle are
represented by the four boxes which are shown as moving in a rectangular path for
clarity. In reality they simply oscillate back and forth. As the fluid oscillates back and
forth along the plate, it undergoes changes in temperature due to the adiabatic
compression and expansion resulting from the pressure variations which accompany the
standing sound wave. The compressions and expansions of the gas which constitute the
sound wave are adiabatic if they occur far from the surface of the plate. The relation
between the change in gas pressure due to the sound wave, p 1, relative to the mean
(ambient) pressure, pm, and the adiabatic temperature change of the gas, T 1, due to the
acoustic pressure change, relative to the mean absolute (Kelvin) temperature, T mis given
below in equation.

Although the oscillations in an acoustic heat pump are sinusoidal functions of

time, Figure depicts the motion as articulated (a square wave) in order to simplify the
explanation. The plate is assumed to have a mean temperature, Tm and a temperature
gradient, T, referenced to the mean position, x = 0. The temperature of the plate at the
left-most position of the gas parcels excursion is therefore T1- x1T, and at the rightmost excursion is T1 + x1T.

In the first step of this four-step cycle, the fluid is transported along the plate by a
distance 2x1 and is heated by adiabatic compression from a temperature of Tm- x1T to
Tmx1T +2T1.
The adiabatic gas law provides the relationship between the change in gas
pressure, p1, and the associated change in temperature, T1as described in equation.
Because we are considering a heat pump, work, in the form of sound, was done on the
gas parcel hence it is now a temperature which is higher than that of the plate at its
present location (|x1T|<|T1|).

In the second step, the warmer gas parcel transfers an amount of heat, dQ hot to the
plate by thermal conduction at constant pressure and its temperature decreases to that of
the plate, Tm+x1T. In the third step, the fluid is transported back along the plate to
position-x1 and is cooled by adiabatic expansion to a temperature Tm+x1 T- 2T1. This
temperature is lower than the original temperature at location x 1, so in the fourth step
the gas parcel adsorbs an amount of heat, dQ cold, from the plate thereby raising its
temperature back to its original value, Tm-x1T.

The net effect of this process is that the system has completed a cycle which has
returned it to its original state and an amount of heat, dQcold, has been transported up a
temperature gradient by work done in the form of sound. It should be stressed again that
no mechanical devices were used to provide the proper phasing between the mechanical
motion and the thermal effects.

If we now consider the full length of the stack as shown in the upper portion of
Figure, the overall heat pumping process is analogous to a "bucket brigade" in which
each set of gas parcels picks up heat from its neighbour to the left at a lower temperature
and hands off the heat to its neighbour to the right at a higher temperature. Heat
exchangers are placed at the ends of the stack to absorb the useful heat load at the lefthand (cold) end of the stack and exhaust the heat plus work (enthalpy) at the right-hand
(hot) end of the stack. The fact that the gas parcels actually move a distance which has
typically been on the order of several millimeters means that intimate physical contact
between the heat exchangers and the stack is not crucial.

5. IMPORTANT PARAMETERS
3.6 Average pressure

Since the power density in a thermoacoustic device is proportional to the average

pressure p, it is favourable to choose pas large as possible. This is determined by the
mechanical strength of the resonator. On the other hand, k is inversely proportional to
square root of p, so a high pressure results in a small k and small stack plate spacing.
This makes the construction difficult.
3.7 Frequency

As the power density in the thermoacoustic devices is a linear function of the

acoustic resonance frequency an obvious choice is thus a high resonance frequency. On
the other hand k is inversely proportional to the square root of the frequency which again
implies a stack with very small plate spacing. Thus a compromise has to be made

between these two effects and also the driver resonance has to be matched to the
resonator resonance for high efficiency of the driver.

3.8 Dynamic pressure

The dynamic pressure amplitude po is limited by two factors namely, the

maximum force of the driver andnon-linearities. The acoustic Mach number has to be
limited to M0.1 for gases in order to avoid nonlinear effects. From many experimental
studies onthe structure of turbulent oscillatory flows, it has unanimously been observed
that transition to turbulence inthe boundary layer took place at a Reynolds number
(Re)based on Stokes boundary-layer thickness, of about 500550, independent of the
particular flow geometry (pipe,channel, oscillating plate).

6. PERFORMANCE
To determine the optimum values for the working parameters like pressure,
frequency etc. performance test was conducted on the thermoacoustic refrigerator.

Above figure illustrates the arrangement of the experimental setup. The experimental
system in general can be broken down into (a) the thermoacoustic refrigerating system,
(b) the test section and (c) the data acquisition system. There are a number of valves in
the system for effecting operations such as charging and vacuuming the system, watercooling and controls for running the experiments. The refrigerating system consists
mainly of the resonator tube or resonator, the stack, the acoustic driver and the heat
exchangers. An electrical resistance heater arrangement was located at the cold side of the
resonator to supply the variable load for the refrigerating system. An audio generator with
frequency range from 10 Hz to 1 MHz was used to produce the sound that was
transferred to the amplifier. The amplified sound is transferred to the acoustic driver

which powers the thermoacoustic system. Fluid inside the resonator interacts with the
stack plates which are aligned in the direction of vibration of the standing waves. The test
section involves specific parts of the system were the measurements were made. In the
figure T, M and P standfor temperature, mass flow and pressure connections, respectively.

The above figure illustrates the locations of thermocouplesin the system. One
thermocouple was installed near the electric heater, one was installed at the surface of the
acoustic driver, two were each installed at the inlet and outlet of the heat exchanger and
one was installed at the middle of the resonator tube.

7. TEST RESULTS
Experiments were conducted to investigate the thermal response of the system under
various operating conditions such as frequency, pressure, and cooling load. For each
experiment, the data readings were taken from the initial time untilconditions became
stable.

Graph 1 shows the variation of the temperature difference between the hot end

Graph 1

and the cold end of the stack with pressure for a constant cooling load and frequency. The
results show that for the system and the range of pressure applied in this study, a
maximum value of temperature difference occurs at a pressure of about 4 bars. At higher
pressures, the temperature difference actually decreased. Thus increasing the pressure in
the system further wouldnt result in a better temperature difference and thus cooling

load. Therefore, for the thermoacoustic system, there is an optimum pressure that gives
the maximum temperature difference.

Graph 2

Graph 2 shows the variation of the cooling load with temperature

differencebetween the hot and the cold ends of the stack for constantpressure and
frequency. The uncertainty bands in the determination of the cooling load are also shown
in the diagram. The graph shows that the temperature difference varies linearly with the
cooling load. This confirms that a high temperature difference between the hot end and
the cold end of the stack is synonymous with high cooling load in thesystem.

Graph 3

Graph 3 shows the temperature difference between the hot end and cold end of the
stack as it varies with frequency for constant cooling load and pressure. The graph looks
sinusoidal which could be due to the oscillating process of the gas in the system. Also, it
is deduced that within the limits of the study, there exists maximum frequency
corresponding to the maximum temperature difference between the hot end and the cold
end of the stack. The average coefficient of performance for the system was calculatedto
be 0.65. Although this value is low compared to the conventional vapour compression
refrigeration system, it is within therange of the COP for thermoacoustic refrigerating
systems.

8. BENEFITS
1. Inert working fluid: Helium, being an inert gas, cannot participate in chemical
reactionsand hence no toxicity, flammability, or negative environmental effects.
2. No sliding seals or lubrication: Due to the high frequency operation, high powers can
be achieved with small displacements so no sliding seals or gas bearings are required.
This also means that no "tight tolerance" machined parts are required thereby reducing
manufacturing costs.
3. Very few simple components: Electrically driven systems require only one moving part
and thermally driven systems have no moving parts. The "stack" can be fabricated from
cheap plastics.
4. Large range of working temperatures: Depending upon the position and length of the
stack in the acoustic standing wave field, one can trade off the temperature span and the
heat pumping.
5. Intrinsically suited to proportional control: Just as one is able to control the volume of
a stereo system, an electrically driven thermoacoustic refrigerator's cooling power is
continuously variable. This allows improved overall efficiency by doing rapid cool-down
at a lower COP and then maintaining heat leak losses at higher COP. This "load
matching" can also reduce heat exchanger inefficiencies by minimizing temperature
differences within the fluids and exchangers.

6. Immaturity:Thermoacoustics is the youngest of the heat engine cycles. It is more likely

that

important

breakthroughs

which

substantially

improve

performance

and

manufacturability will still occur here rather than the older technologies which have
already "skimmed the cream".

9. TECHNICAL ISSUES
1. Immaturity: Because thermoacoustics is the youngest of existing heat engine cycles, it
lacks the infrastructure (suppliers, sales and service base, educational programs, etc.)
which can enhance marketability. In addition, since there are presently no commercial
products on the market, thermoacoustics does not have a "cash flow" which can be
"tapped" to make either incremental component improvements or to finance general
research and development efforts.
2. Efficiency: Although computer models predict that TARs will have a Coefficient of
Performance Relative to Carnot (COPR) of 42% (exclusive of motor inefficiencies and
secondary heat exchange fluid pumps). The previousthermoacoustic cryocooler designs
have been optimized for temperature span rather than COP.Their best measured
performance has given a COPR 20%, again exclusive of electroacoustic efficiency.
3. Power density: The simple boundary layer models of thermoacoustic engine
performance may not apply as acoustical amplitudes are increased. If acoustic
Machnumbers are restricted to M<5%, then the realizable power density of conventional
thermoacoustic stack geometries may be restricted to 10 Tons (35 kW) per square meter
of stack cross-sectional area at working fluid pressures below 20 atm. Higher power

research refrigerators and numerical hydrodynamic computer simulations would be very

useful to determine what would ultimately limit the power density.
4. Electroacoustic conversion: Although electrical to acoustical conversion efficiencies on
the order of 90% are, in principle, realizable at reasonable cost, present thermoacoustic
drivers have had electroacoustic efficiencies under 50%. This should not be a problem
since efficiencies for similar linear motor technology in Stirling applications as high as
93% have been measured.
5. Secondary heat transfer: All thermoacoustic engines produced thus far have used either
conduction for small heat loads (<10 Watts) or electrically pumped heat exchange fluids
for large heat loads (>100 Watts). Unlike the vapour compression (Rankine) cycles, the
working fluid in athermoacoustic refrigerator/chiller is not circulated outside the engine.
In order to obtain maximum overall efficiency (i.e. net COP), it is therefore necessary to
simultaneously optimize primary and secondary heat exchanger geometry, transfer fluid
thermophysical parameters, transfer fluid flow rates, and electrical pump or heat pipe
performance, all subject to economic constraints, in order to achieve the best performance
at the lowest cost.
6. The "talent bottleneck: Because thermoacoustics is a new science and requires
expertise in a diverse number of non-traditional disciplines within the refrigeration and
HVAC communities(acoustics, transduction, gas mixture thermophysics, PID, PLL and
AGC control, etc.), there are very few experimentalists who are interested or capable of
research in this field. This severely limits the number of potentially promising
applications which can be pursued simultaneously.

10. APPLICATIONS
Speaking of its practical applicability, prototype of thermo acoustic refrigerators
have operated on a Space Shuttle and abroad a Navy warship. And a powerful thermo
acoustic engine has recently demonstrated its ability to liquefy natural gas on a
commercial scale.In practice there is a large variety of applications possible for both
thermo acoustic engines and refrigerators and combination of these. Below, some
concrete examples are given of possible applications:

1. Liquefaction of natural gas:

Burning natural gas in a thermo acoustic engine generates acoustic energy. This
acoustic energy is used in a thermo acoustic heat pump to liquefy natural gas.
2. Chip cooling:
In this case a piezoelectric element generates the sound wave. A thermo acoustic
heat pump cools the chip.
3. Electronic equipment cooling on naval ships:
In this application, a speaker generates sound waves. Again a thermo acoustic
pump is used to provide the cooling.
4. Electricity from sunlight:
Concentrated thermal solar energy generates an acoustic wave in a heated thermo
acoustic engine. A linear motor generates electricity from this.
5. Cogeneration (combined heat and power):

A burner heats a thermo acoustic engine, therewith generating acoustic energy. A

linear motor converts this energy to electricity. Waste heat of burner (flue gases) can be
used to supply heat.
6. Upgrading industrial waste heat:
Acoustic energy is created by means of industrial waste heat in a thermo
acoustic engine. In a thermo acoustic heat pump this acoustic energy is used to
upgrade the same waste heat to a useful temperature level.
Though it probably wont be useful for car air conditioning systems any time soon
since they are too bulky and heavy, it may prove useful for niche applications, such as
cooling satellite sensors or super-fast computers. In addition to being useful on shipboard,
this technology could be adapted for soft drink machines, medicine storage, computer
chips and food transport companies.

11. CONCLUSIONS
The working and performance of a thermoacoustic refrigeration system is
presented here. The device is environmentally friendly, it has no major moving parts, it
does not require high tolerances in its construction, there are no lubrication requirements;
such characteristics can be important for many applications. In the performance test, the
temperaturedifference between the hot end and the cold end of the stack rangedfrom 0 oC
to 15oC.Results from the study show that the cooling load increases with the temperature
difference between the two ends of the stack. It was also found that high pressure alone in
the system does not necessarily result in a higher cooling temperature difference and thus
a higher cooling load. For the thermoacoustic refrigerating system, there exists fora given
frequency, an optimum pressure that results in the maximum temperature difference

which in turn results in the possible maximum cooling load. This frequency for maximum
refrigeration power was confirmed as the resonance frequency. Careful consideration
should be exercised in choosing the operating pressure and frequency for the system for
best performance.

12. CURRENT RESEARCH

Cool Sound Industries, Inc. is engaged in developing thermoacoustics for airconditioning, heating and refrigeration.

Orest Symko began a research project in 2005 called Thermal Acoustic Piezo
Energy Conversion (TAPEC). The research group has built several prototypes,
including a ring-shaped model designed by student Ivan Rodriguez that currently
has the highest efficiency.

The development of a combined electrical generator, refrigerator based on two

coupled thermoacoustic Stirling engines, has recently been disclosed. The name is
SCORE (Stove for Cooking, Refrigeration and Electricity). SCORE was awarded
2M in March 2007 to research a cooking stove that will produce electricity and
cooling using the thermo-acoustic effect for use in developing countries.

REFERENCES
[1] Experimental study on the performance of the thermoacoustic refrigerating
system
Emmanuel C. Nsofor, Azrai Ali
2009
[2] Thermoacoustic Refrigeration
Steven L. Garrett, Thomas J. Hofler, and David K. Perkins
1993
[3] Construction and performance of a thermoacoustic refrigerator
M.E.H. Tijani, J.C.H. Zeegers, A.T.A.M. de Waele
2001
[4] A review of emerging technologies for food refrigeration applications
S.A. Tassou, J.S. Lewis, Y.T. Ge, A. Hadawey, I. Chaer
2009
Webpages
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thermoacoustic_refrigeration