Thermal Field Measurements of a Thermoacoustically Driven Thermoacoustic Refrigerator

Abstract

Thermoacoustic refrigerator is a device that transfers heat from a low temperature medium to a high-temperature medium by using sound energy as work input. We have designed and tested a simplified thermally driven thermoacoustic refrigerator. Our refrigerator is easy to make, uses no moving parts, and has proved to be an impressive illustration of simplicity, an inherent attribute of thermoacoustic engines. At the same time it can be used as a working demonstration of a thermoacoustic refrigerator. Also, in this paper we have reported the results of measurements of temperature gradients and maximum cooling temperature in a thermally driven thermoacoustic refrigerator. The present research shows that the magnitude and position of the maximum cooling temperature depend on the position of the prime mover stack from the nearest pressure antinode. Based on the design of this simplified thermally driven thermoacoustic refrigerator, the design of a complete thermally driven thermoacoustic refrigerator is in progress.