Design and development of high-frequency thermoacoustic engines for thermal management in microelectronics

Abstract

Thermoacoustic heat engines provide a practical solution to the problem of heat management in microcircuits where they can be used to pump heat or produce spot cooling of specific circuit elements. There are basically two types of thermoacoustic engines, a prime mover where heat is converted to acoustic energy, and a heat pump or cooler where sound can pump heat up a temperature gradient. Such devices are relatively simple, they can be efficient, and they are readily adaptable to microcircuit interfacing. Since this type of engines is usually operated in a resonant mode, the operating frequency determines its size. The devices presented here are pumped at frequencies ranging from 4 to 24 kHz. They have been developed for interfacing with microcircuits as heat pumps or spot coolers. Results of their performance are presented and suggestions for further improvements are discussed. q

System Identification and Resonant Control of Thermoacoustic Engines for Robust Solar Power

“…To such a situation, suppressing mean-flow buckling but keeping thermoacoustic instability is a remedy. The control of mean-flow buckling was usually through passive approaches, such as re-shaping the chambers [11][12][13][14], changing the working gas [15], re-designing the heat regeneration [16][17][18][19][20][21][22], etc., based on the analysis of computation fluid dynamics as in [11,23,24] for example. As indicated in the literature of combustion instabilities [25][26][27][28], suppression of mean-flow buckling is usually accompanied by reduction of acoustic motions.…”

Size Effect in Physical and Other Properties of Nanostructured Coatings

“…When gate is defined as a MOSFET, a Ni layer is layered on top of the sub-layer. The first thermal process, usually RTP, 5 at the low temperatures (often between 260 and 310°C) leads to the formation of Ni 2 Si in gate, source/drain areas where Si, which is in direct contact with layered Ni, is formed. No interaction happens between Ni and the surrounding oxide environment.…”

Investigation of a traveling wave thermoacoustic engine in a looped-tube

“…Besides their many advantages, which include no mechanical moving parts and environmentally friendly working fluids, thermoacoustic engines (TAE) are promising technologies for reusing waste heat, providing refrigeration or for producing micro-cooling devices [3].…”