PhD Seminar

Study and Development of Thermoacoustic Devices

Hadi Babaei Supervised by : Dr. Kamran Siddiqui April 6, 2009

Fundamentals of Thermoacoustics
What is thermoacoustics ?
Heat energy
Engine Refrigerator

Sound energy

Thermoacoustic engines: converting heat energy to sound energy Thermoacoustic refrigerators: Utilizing sound energy to transfer heat

Main components of a thermoacoustic device: Resonator tube Stack Heat exchangers Acoustic source (e.g. loud speaker)
Schematic of a thermoacoustic device

Thermoacoustic Engine

-Thermoacoustic Engines convert heat energy (Qh) to sound energy (E2).

-Heat energy (Qh) is provided through the hot heat exchanger (HXh). -Conversion of heat energy (Qh) to sound energy (E2) takes place inside the stack. -The remaining heat energy (Qa,eng) is transferred to the outside environment throughout the ambient heat exchanger (HXa,eng).

Schematic of a thermoacoustic engine

Acoustically-Driven Thermoacoustic Refrigerator

-Acoustically-driven thermoacoustic refrigerators transfer heat (Qc) from a low temp. reservoir (HXc) to a high temp. reservoir (HXa,ref) by using acoustic power provided by a loudspeaker (E2) . -The heat transfer from a cold medium to a warm medium takes place inside the stack.

Schematic of a acoustically-driven thermoacoustic refrigerator

Thermoacoustically-driven thermoacoustic refrigerator (TADTAR) :

Heat energy
Engine

Sound energy

Refrigerator

Cooling power

-Heat energy is converted to sound energy by a thermoacoustic engine. -The produced sound energy is used to run a thermoacoustic refrigerator.

Schematic of a thermoacoustically-driven thermoacoustic refrigerator

Advantages of thermoacoustic devices

(i) At most one moving part (a loudspeaker) with no sliding seals (ii) Nontoxic and environmentally friendly working gases (iii) Low fabrication and maintenance cost (iv) Utilizing any source of heat energy for cooling purposes (in a TADTAR) (v) Generating electricity via a linear alternator or other electroacoustic power transducer (vi) Flexible dimensions

Applications
Covering a broad range of application:
From a miniature thermoacoustic refrigerator with the length of about an inch, to a thermoacoustic refrigerator for natural gas liquefaction with the capacity of 7 kw of cooling power.

Thermoacoustic device, Symko et al. (2006)

The thermoacoustic natural gas liquefier developed in Los Alamos National Laboratory by Swift et el.(2002)

The solar-powered TADTAR developed in Naval Postgraduate School by Adeff and Hofler (2000)

My Research Work:
1. Theoretical Studies
I. Designing and optimizing of thermoacoustic devices II. Modifying the theoretical model of thermoacoustic couples

2. Experimental Investigations
I. Measuring and studying acoustic and streaming velocity fields using synchronized PIV technique in thermoacoustic couples II. Measuring and studying the developed temperature fields at the two sides of a thermoacoustic couple using thermocouples

3. Developing a prototype
I. Designing, developing and testing a unique thermoacoustic device
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1. Theoretical Studies
I. Designing and optimizing of thermoacoustic devices

Input data such as: -Working gas

-Desired temperatures of the heat exchangers -Desired cooling power

Optimized output data:

-Ref. stack length and position -Eng. stack length and position -Required heat input for the hot heat exchanger -Cross sectional area of the tube

Flow chart showing the design and optimization procedure for thermoacoustic devices

1. Theoretical Studies
I. Designing and optimizing of thermoacoustic devices

Sustainable thermoacoustic refrigerator (Operating on the waste heat of the tri-generation gas turbine engine)

Working Fluid: Helium (high sound velocity and high thermal conductivity) Mean Pressure: 10 atm Acoustic frequency: 400 Hz
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1. Theoretical Studies
I. Designing and optimizing of thermoacoustic devices

Sustainable thermoacoustic refrigerator (Operating on the waste heat of an automobile engine)

Working gas Mean pressure (kPa) Frequency (Hz) Cooling power (W) Cooling temperature (C) Ambient heat exchangers temperature (C) Drive ratio (%) Estimated required waste heat for engine (W) Hot heat exchanger temperature (C) Overall efficiency (%) Helium 700 400 30 2 27 3 159 260 18.8

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1. Theoretical Studies
II. Modifying the theoretical model of thermoacoustic couples

Wheatley et al. model

Triangles: experimental results

Atchley et al. model Developed model

Steady-state temperature difference between the hot and cold ends of the stack versus stack position along the resonator at the pressure amplitude of 460 Pa, RVC is the stack material, comparing previous theoretical models, the present model and experimental results

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2. Experimental Investigations
I. Measuring and studying acoustic and streaming velocity fields using synchronized PIV technique in thermoacoustic couples

30-ppi RVC stack

Schematic of the experimental set-up for acoustic and streaming investigations

Plexigalss stack

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(a)

(b)

Simultaneously obtained velocity fields in the presence of the plexiglass stack at the peak pressure amplitude of 628 Pa and the frequency of 146 Hz, (a) acoustic velocity field (b) streaming velocity field

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Developing a prototype
I. Designing, developing and testing a unique thermoacoustic device

Heat exchangers Resonator tube RVC stack

Flow switch

Air heater

Resonator tube, 30-ppi RVC stack and heat exchangers

Air heater, control cube, flow switch and heat exchanger of the device

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Conclusions:
1. Developed a comprehensive and systematic procedure to design and optimize thermoacoustic device. 2. Modified the available theoretical model predicting the stack temperature difference and validated the model by conducting experiments. 3. Investigation of the acoustic and streaming velocity fields using a novel synchronization technique. 4. Design, development and performance testing of a sustainable thermoacoustic device.

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Thank you

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Basic principles of thermoacoustic heat engines and refrigerators

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Thermoacoustic couples (stacks):

Primary device that thermoacoustic phenomenon can be examined

Removing heat exchangers from a thermoacoustic refrigerator

Schematic of a thermoacoustic couple

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Acoustic Streaming:
The streaming velocity is a second order flow induced by and superimposed on the dominant first-order acoustic velocity. The streaming patterns are almost stationary and time invariant.

Schematic of the acoustic and streaming velocity fields

Schematic of the inner and outer streaming fields

-In thermoacoustic engines and refrigerators, streaming generates mean motions that result in an unwanted heat convection within the device. -Streaming adds a heat load to the cold heat exchanger in a refrigerator or drives away heat from the hot heat exchanger in an engine (causing a reduction in thermal efficiency).

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Synchronized PIV technique:

-The measured velocity field inside a standing-wave resonator is the superposition of acoustic and streaming velocities. -Synchronized PIV technique allows us to measure streaming velocities in any spatial region along the resonator

Acoustic and streaming velocity fields captured at a particular phase of the excitation signal, Nabavi et al. (2007)

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Energy saving by TADTAR (theoretical prediction)

If all the industrial waste heat above 140C in the Netherlands can be used in TADTARs, this would save 16 PJ yearly. This corresponds to more than 5 billion m3 of natural gas (http://www.ecn.nl/en/).

TADTARs have the potential to reduce the fuel consumption and reduce the emission of harmful CFC refrigerants.

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