One major setback of thermoacoustic engines-when comparing them with ''conventional'' heat-engines or refrigerators-is their low power density. In this work a new attempt for achieving higher power densities was undertaken. The stack of a thermoacoustic engine, which usually consists of parallel plates much longer than the acoustic displacement amplitude, was substituted by parallel-plate segments, which were only a fraction of the displacement amplitude long and randomly orientated to each other. This alternative stack arrangement was expected to benefit from improved heat transfer characteristics and an anisotropic thermal conductivity. A simplified numerical model confirmed these expectations. Experiments with a thermoacoustic heat pump were carried out. The experimental results qualitatively agreed with the numerical model. At most, the power density was raised by approximately 50%. The coefficient of performance-defined as useful heat output divided by work input-increased by approximately one-third.
The linear thermoacoustic theory was developed by N. Rott, formerly Professor at the Institute of Aerodynamics at ETH Zürich, in the late 1960s. Since then a couple of research projects in that field have been carried out under the supervision of Prof. Rott, and more recently at the Institute of Process Engineering. The talk will give a short historical summary of the research activities at ETH Zürich and the latest work undertaken at the Institute of Process Engineering will be presented. This research was aimed at increasing the power density of thermoacoustic engines. Instead of the ‘‘stack,’’ usually consisting of ‘‘long’’ parallel plates, short parallel-plate segments were used, which were randomly oriented to each other. This alternative stack arrangement was expected to benefit from improved heat transfer characteristics and an anisotropic thermal conductivity. The results of a simple numerical model and experiments carried out with a thermoacoustic heat pump confirmed these expectations and will be presented in the talk. a)Former affiliation.
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