THERMAL ACOUSTIC REFRIGERATION (TAR)

TECHNICAL SEMINAR REPORT

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
IN
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
For the academic year 2012-2016

By
Chittluri Sreevarsha
(12K81A0372)

ST.MARTIN'S ENGINEERING COLLEGE

(Affiliated to JNTU, Hyderabad, Telangana)

ST.MARTIN'S ENGINEERING COLLEGE

(Affiliated to JNTU, Hyderabad, Telangana)

Department of Mechanical Engineering

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the technical seminar entitled
THERMAL ACOUSTIC REFRIGIRATION (TAR)
By
Chittluri Sreevarsha (12K81A0372)
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of BACHELOR OF
TECHNOLOGY in MECHANICAL ENGINEERING by the Jawaharlal Nehru
Institute of Technology , Hyderabad during the academic year 2012 2016.

Head of the Department

Department of Mechanical
SMEC

ABSTRACT:
From creating comfortable home environments to manufacturing fast and efficient electronic
devices, air conditioning and refrigeration remain expensive, yet essential, services for both homes and
industries However, in an age of impending energy and environmental crises, current cooling technologies
continue to generate greenhouse gases with high energy costs.
Thermo acoustic refrigeration is an innovative alternative for cooling that is both clean and
inexpensive. Thermo acoustic have been known for over years but the use of this phenomenon to develop
engines and pumps is fairly recent. Thermo acoustic 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 and results in 40% less energy consumption. Thermo acoustic heat engines have the
advantage of operating with inert gases and with little or no moving parts, making them highly efficient ideal
candidate for environmentally-safe refrigeration with almost zero maintenance cost. Now we will look into a
thermo acoustic refrigerator, its principle and functions

BASIC FUNCTIONING:
Refrigeration relies on two major thermodynamic principles. First, a fluids temperature rises when
compressed and falls when expanded. Second, when two substances are placed in direct contact, heat will
flow from the hotter substance to the cooler one. While conventional refrigerators use pumps to transfer
heat on a macroscopic scale, thermo acoustic refrigerators rely on sound to generate waves of pressure
that alternately compress and relax the gas particles within the tube.
Thermo acoustics is based on the principle that sound waves are pressure waves. These sound
waves propagate through the air via molecular collisions. The molecular collisions cause a disturbance in
the air, which in turn creates constructive and destructive interference. The constructive interference makes
the molecules compress, and the destructive interference makes the molecules expand. This principle is
the basis behind the thermo acoustic refrigerator.
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 principle can be imagined as a loud speaker creating high amplitude sound waves that can
compress refrigerant allowing heat absorption. The researches have exploited the fact that sound waves
travel by compressing and expanding the gas they are generated in.
Suppose that the above said wave is traveling through a tube. Now, a temperature gradient can be
generated by putting a stack of plates in the right place in the tube, in which sound waves are bouncing
around. Some plates in the stack will get hotter while the others get colder. All it takes to make a refrigerator
out of this is to attach heat exchangers to the end of these stacks.

THERMO ACOUSTIC EFFECT:

Acoustic or sound waves can be utilized to produce cooling. 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.
A net transport of heat results as expansion and compression in an acoustic wave are inherently
associated with a displacement. 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.
The principle may find applications in practical refrigerators, providing cooling, heat engines
providing heat or power generators providing work. A great advantage of the technique is that there are no
or only one moving part, in the cold area, which results in high reliability and low vibration levels. Also the
use of inert gases make them environmentally safe and hence more in demand.
THERMOACOUSTIC CYCLE:
The cycle by which heat transfer occurs is
similar to the Stirling cycle. Figure below traces
the basic thermo acoustic cycle for a packet of
gas, a collection of gas molecules that act and
move together. Starting from point 1, the packet
of gas is compressed and moves to the left. As
the packet is compressed, the sound wave does
work on the packet of gas, providing the power
for the refrigerator. When the gas packet is at
maximum compression, the gas ejects the heat
back into the stack since the temperature of the
gas is now higher than the temperature of the
stack This phase is the refrigeration part of the
moving the heat farther from the bottom of the
tube.
cycle,

In the second phase of the cycle, the gas is returned to the initial state. As the gas packet moves back
towards the right, the sound wave expands the gas. Although some work is expended to return the gas to
the initial state, the heat released on the top of the stack is greater than the work expended to return the
gas to the initial state. This process results in a net transfer of heat to the left side of the stack. Finally, in
step 4, the packets of gas reabsorb heat from the cold reservoir to repeat the heat transfer process.

DESCRIPTION OF TECHNOLOGY :
Pressure and the rest is a consequence of heat transfer between the gas and the stack. The
Thermo acoustic refrigeration systems operate by using sound waves and a non-flammable mixture of inert
gas (helium, argon, air) or a mixture of gases in a resonator to produce cooling. Thermo acoustic devices
are typically characterized as either standing-wave or travelling-wave. A schematic diagram of a standing
wave device is shown in figure

The main components are a closed cylinder, an acoustic driver, a porous component called a
"stack, and two heat-exchanger systems. Application of acoustic waves through a driver such as a loud
speaker 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 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.

BENEFITS:

Inert working fluid. Helium, being an inert gas, cannot participate in chemical re actions and

hence no toxicity, flammability, or negative environmental effects.

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.
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.
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

power. Different working fluids are therefore not required for different temperature ranges.
Intrinsically suited to proportional control. Just as one is able to control the volume of a stereo
system, a electrically driven thermo acoustic 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.

Immaturity. Thermo acoustics 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".

APPLICATIONS:
1. Liquefaction of natural gas: Burning natural gas in 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 piezoelectric element generates the sound wave. A thermo acoustic
heat pump cools the chip.
3. Electronic equipment cooling on naval ship: in this application, the speaker generates the
sound wave. Again a thermo acoustic heat pump produces cooling.
4. 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.
5. 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.

CONCLUSION:
Thermo acoustic engines and refrigerators were already being considered a few years ago for
specialized applications, where their simplicity, lack of lubrication and sliding seals, and their use of
environmentally harmless working fluids were adequate compensation for their lower efficiencies. This
latest breakthrough, coupled with other developments in the design of high power, single frequency loud
speakers and reciprocating electric generators suggests that thermo acoustics may soon emerge as an
environmentally attractive way to power hybrid electric vehicles, capture solar energy, refrigerate food, air
condition buildings, liquefy industrial gases and serve in other capacities that are yet to be imagined.
In future let us hope these thermo acoustic devices which promise to improve everyones standard
of living while helping to protect the planet might soon take over other costly, less durable and polluting
engines and pumps. The latest achievements of the former are certainly encouraging, but there are still
much left to be done.