Numerical Calculation of the Performance of a Thermoacoustic System with Engine and Cooler Stacks in a Looped Tube

Abstract

The performance of a thermoacoustic system that is composed of a looped tube, an engine stack, a cooler stack, and four heat exchangers, is numerically investigated. Each stack has narrow flow channels, is sandwiched by two heat exchangers, and is located in the looped tube. In order to provide a design guide, the performance of the system is numerically calculated by changing the following three parameters: the radius of the flow channels in the engine stack, the radius of the flow channels in the cooler stack, and the relative position of the cooler stack. It was found that when the three parameters are optimized, the efficiency of the engine stack reaches 75% of Carnot's efficiency and the coefficient of the performance (COP) of the cooler stack is 53% of Carnot's COP, whereas 33% of the acoustic power generated by the engine stack is utilized in the cooler stack.

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“…This conclusion is consistent with the findings in studies [157][158][159][160]. As to the geometry of the stack, it is found that the pin array configuration outperforms the parallel-plate or circular-pore ones [161][162][163][164], and the optimal pore size is when rh/δk is between 1.0 and 1.5 [165][166][167]. Regarding the working gas, research has found that the mean pressure has an optimal value since it affects rh/δk [168][169][170].…”

Numerical Study on the Effect of Mean Pressure and Loop's Radius to the Onset Temperature and Efficiency of Traveling Wave Termoacustic Engine

“…As a mathematical calculation, we need to calculate the acoustic power equation ̇[ ], acoustic heat power ̇ [W] [18] which is indicated by oscillation pressure and the average of crosssectional area of the oscillation velocity . The equation becomes [20]:…”

Special Issue on Sciences in Heat Pump and Refrigeration

“…Zwarycz-Makles and Majorkowska-Mech [19] contributed with an improvement of a simulation model on an adsorption heat pump. Besides absorption and adsorption, Farikhah [20] reported a numerical study on a thermoacoustic engine and cooler, which is another piece of technology that is able to utilize untapped energy. This research area has been kept active and is gaining importance for next generation heat pump and refrigeration systems.…”