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Introduction

Basics of Refrigeration
Basics of Thermoacoustic Refrigeration
Thermoacoustics
Main Parts
Advantages, Disadvantages and Applications of TAR
Conclusion

INTRODUCTION
Over the past two decades, physicists and engineers have been
working on a class of heat engines and compression-driven
refrigerators that use no oscillating pistons, oil seals or lubricants.

Thermo acoustic devices take advantage of sound waves

reverberating within them to convert a temperature differential into
mechanical energy or mechanical energy into a temperature
differential.

A refrigerant is a compound used in a heat

cycle that undergoes a phase change from a
gas to a liquid and back.
For example, let us assume that the refrigerant
being used is pure ammonia, which boils at
-27 degrees F. And this is what happens to
keep the refrigerator cool:

D I S A DVA N TAG E S O F
C O N V E N T I O N A L R E F R I G E R AT O R
Uses harmful refrigerants like ammonia, CFCs and HFCs
Refrigerants if leaked causes the depletion in the ozone layers.
Refrigerants are costly.
The moving parts like the compressors require lubrication.
Leakage of refrigerant may result in adverse human health effects
including

cancers, cataracts, immune system deficits, and

respiratory effects, as well as diminish food supplies and promote

increases in vector borne diseases.

 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.

 Thermoacoustics combines the branches of acoustics and thermodynamics

together to move heat by using sound.
While acoustics is primarily concerned with the macroscopic effects of sound
transfer like coupled pressure and motion oscillations, thermoacoustics focuses on
the microscopic temperature oscillations that accompany these pressure changes.
Thermoacoustics takes advantage of these pressure oscillations to move heat on a
macroscopic level.
This results in a large temperature difference between the hot and cold sides of the
device and causes refrigeration.

CARNOT CYCLE
The

most

efficient

cycle

of

thermodynamics.
The Carnot cycle uses gas in a
closed chamber to extract work
from the system.

 The figure traces the basic

thermoacoustic cycle for a packet
of gas, a collection of gas
molecules that act and move
together.
As the packet is compressed, the
sound wave does work on the
packet of gas, providing the power
for the refrigerator.

Figure 4.3 THERMOACOUSTIC REFRIGERATION CYCLE (From Reference 2)

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Two main parts are in the TAR

1. Driver
Houses the Loudspeaker
2. Resonator
Houses the gas
The hot and cold heat exchangers

Houses the Stack

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PARTS

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 A loudspeaker (or "speaker") is an electroacoustic transducer

that produces sound in response to an electrical audio signal
input.
It was invented in the mid 1820s by the scientist Johann Philipp
Reis.

It is powered by electricity.
The magnet or the coil in the speaker vibrates to produce the
waves of required frequency.

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 It is also called as regenerator.

The most important piece of a thermoacoustic device is the
stack.
The stack consists of a large number of closely spaced surfaces
that are aligned parallel to the to the resonator tube.
In a usual resonator tube, heat transfer occurs between the walls

of cylinder and the gas.

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 Heat exchangers are

devices used to transfer
heat energy from one
fluid to another.

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 Length of the tube is 35 cm.

Diameter of the tube is 3.9 cm

Length of the stack is 7.9 cm

Diameter of the stack is 3.8 cm
Gas used is 97.2% Helium and 2.7% Xenon
Heat pumping capacity is 50 Watts.
Refrigeration Temperature is 12C
Commercial Loudspeaker is used.
Speaker operates at 135 Hz and 100 W.

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 No moving parts for the process, so very reliable and a long life span.
Environmentally friendly working medium (air, noble gas).
The use of air or noble gas as working medium offers a large window of

applications because there are no phase transitions.

Use of simple materials with no special requirements, which are
commercially available in large quantities and therefore relatively cheap.
On the same technology base a large variety of applications can be
covered.

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 Efficiency: Thermo acoustic refrigeration is currently less efficient

than the traditional refrigerators.
Lack of suppliers producing customized components.
Lack of interest and funding from the industry due to their

concentration on developing alternative gases to CFCs.

Talent Bottleneck: There are not enough people who have expertise
on the combination of relevant disciplines such as acoustic, heat
exchanger design etc.

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In order to overcome the drawbacks, some improvements were made.

In order to improve the efficiency, regenerators are used. The
function of a regenerator is to store thermal energy during part of

the cycle and return it later. This component can increase the
thermodynamic efficiency to impressive levels.
The extra stress given in using standing waves also paved to be
fruitful. This increased the level of temperature gradient setup
thereby providing more refrigeration effect.

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 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.
Chip cooling:

In this case a piezoelectric element generates the sound wave. A

thermo acoustic heat pump cools the chip.

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 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.
Electricity from sunlight:
Concentrated thermal solar energy generates an acoustic wave in

a heated thermo acoustic engine. A linear motor generates

electricity from this.
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.
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 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.

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.

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 http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/carnot.html.
Daniel A. Russell and Pontus Weibull, Tabletop thermoacoustic
refrigerator for demonstrations, Am. J. Phys. 70 (12), December 2002.
G. W. Swift, Thermoacoustic engines and refrigerators, Phys. Today
48, 22-28 (1995).
http://www.howstuffworks.com/stirling-engine.htm.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnot_cycle.
Chilling at Ben & Jerrys: Cleaner, Greener. Ken Brown. Available:
http://www.thermoacousticscorp.com/news/index.cfm/ID/4.htm. 17
July 2006.
S. L. Garrett and S. Backhaus, The power of sound, Am. Sci. 88, 516
525 (2000).

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