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Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2019) 000–000
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Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2019) 000–000 www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
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ScienceDirect
Procedia Manufacturing 35 (2019) 1350–1355

2nd International Conference on Sustainable Materials Processing and Manufacturing,

2nd International Conference on Sustainable Materials Processing and Manufacturing,
(SMPM 2019)
(SMPM 2019)
Performance alteration of standing-wave thermoacoustically-driven
Performance alteration of standing-wave thermoacoustically-driven
engine through resonator length adjustment
engine through resonator length adjustment
S. Balonjiaa, A.C Alcockaa, L.K Tartibua,*
a,*
and T.C Jenbb
S. Balonji , A.C Alcock , L.K Tartibu and T.C Jen
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology, University of Johannesburg, Doornfontein Campus, Johannesburg 2028
b
Department
a of Mechanical
Department Engineering
of Mechanical Science,
Engineering UniversityUniversity
Technology, of Johannesburg, Auckland Doornfontein
of Johannesburg, Park Campus,Campus,
Johannesburg 2006, South
Johannesburg 2028Africa.
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering Science, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park Campus, Johannesburg 2006, South Africa.

Abstract
Abstract
The production of sound-wave in thermo-acoustic device is necessary to induce cooling or generate electricity. The magnitude of
The production of
the sound-wave is sound-wave in thermo-acoustic
normally proportional deviceofis heat
to the amount necessary to induce
provided to the cooling
device. or
Thegenerate electricity.
possibility to use The
wastemagnitude of
heat in any
the sound-wave
locations can be is normally
enough proportional
to justify the use to
of the amount of heat
thermo-acoustic providedfor
technology to sustainable
the device. The possibility
electricity to useor
generation waste heat in any
refrigeration. In
locations
this work,can be enough thermoacoustically-driven
an adjustable to justify the use of thermo-acoustic
engine hastechnology for sustainable
been developed using the electricity generation for
Design Environment or refrigeration.
Low-amplitude In
this work, an adjustable
ThermoAcoustic Energythermoacoustically-driven
Conversion (DELTAEC). engine has beenhave
Many studies developed usingthe
highlighted therelationship
Design Environment
between theforgeometry
Low-amplitude
of the
ThermoAcoustic
stack Energy Conversion
and the performance of the device.(DELTAEC). Manystudies,
Unlike previous studies the
have highlighted
resonator thethermoacoustically-driven
of this relationship between the geometry of the
device, made of
stackportions,
two and the performance
was adjusted.ofThetheperformance
device. Unlike previous
of the devicestudies, theanalysed
has been resonatorin of thistothermoacoustically-driven
order evaluate the influence of thedevice, made of
alteration
tworesonator
the portions, on
wasthe
adjusted. The performance
heat-to-sound conversion. ofPerformance
the device has been analysed
indicators in acoustic
like the order to evaluate
power, thethetemperature
influence ofdifference
the alteration of
across
resonator
the stack on the
and the heat-to-sound
frequency conversion. have
of the sound-wave Performance indicators
been studied. like the
This work acoustic
points out thepower, the temperature
possibility to regulatedifference across
the performance
thethermo-acoustic
of stack and the frequency ofadjusting
engine by the sound-wave have been
the geometry studied.
of the This work points out the possibility to regulate the performance
resonator.
of thermo-acoustic engine by adjusting the geometry of the resonator.
© 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
©
© 2019
2019 The
The Authors.
Peer-review Authors.
under Published
Published by
responsibility ofElsevier
by Elsevier B.V.
B.V. committee of SMPM 2019.
the organizing
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of SMPM 2019.
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of SMPM 2019.
Keywords: DELTAEC; engine; sound-wave; Thermo-acoustic
Keywords: DELTAEC; engine; sound-wave; Thermo-acoustic

1. Introduction
1. Introduction
Thermo-acoustic engines (TAEs) are potentially good candidates in the search for suitable heat recovery
Thermo-acoustic
technology engines
that can be used in(TAEs) areprocesses
industrial potentially good candidates
for instance. in result
This could the search for suitable
in the decrease heat
of the recovery
dependency
technology that can be used in industrial processes for instance. This could result in the decrease of the dependency

*
* Corresponding author.
* E-mail address: ltartibu@uj.ac.za
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ltartibu@uj.ac.za

2351-9789 © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Peer-review©under
2351-9789 2016responsibility
The Authors. of the organizing
Published committee
by Elsevier B.V. of SMPM 2019.
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of SMPM 2019.
2351-9789 © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of SMPM 2019.
10.1016/j.promfg.2019.09.002
 S. Balonji et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 35 (2019) 1350–1355 1351
2 Balonji S./ Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2016) 000–000

on fossil fuels, mitigate the environmental concerns and make industrial process more sustainable. TAE consist of a
high temperature heat exchanger, a stack, an ambient heat exchanger and a resonator tube (Fig. 1). The energy
conversion from heat energy into acoustic energy takes place within the stack, considered as the heart of the device.
A compressible gas is generally used to fill up the engine. The acoustic waves generated are the result of the heat
transfer taking place between the compressible fluid and the stack when the latter is subjected to a temperature
gradient. This transfer creates local changes of velocity and pressure within the fluid. With a suitable phasing between
the pressure and the velocity, an acoustic oscillation is generated resulting ultimately in a sound-wave [1]. This
technology can be used to generate clean energy and drive refrigeration systems.

Key
(1.) Heating source
(2.) Resonator
(3.) Heat exchanger
(4.) Stack
(5.) Sound wave
(6.) Front view of stack
δQh Hot heat load
δQc Cold heat load
Q Heat input

Fig. 1. Typical standing wave TAE

It is expected that a large acoustic power can be generated if the geometrical configuration of the device is
optimum. An experimental investigation on the performance of simple TAE was conducted by Hariharan et al. [2].
This study found that the stack length and its position within the resonator affect significantly the thermal efficiency
of TAE. This study considered the temperature gradient, the frequency and the pressure amplitude as performance
indicators. Tartibu’ experimental results suggest that some of the geometrical parameters namely the stack length, its
position and its porosity are interdependent [3]. Tao et al. [4] focus on the operating frequency and the onset
temperature. This study points out that the resonator length is crucial in the operation of the TAE. In addition, the
possibility to drop the onset temperature below 100 oC is demonstrated. A numerical analysis performed with
Computational Fluid Dynamics shows that the frequency and the pressure amplitude of oscillations are higher in
tapered resonator as compared to straight resonator [5]. These findings are supported by Bao et al. [6] who suggest
that tapered resonator reduces the velocity amplitude and minimize the total acoustic loss in the resonator tube.
The resonant frequency is proportional to the sound speed (a) and inversely proportional to the resonator length
(L). This is demonstrated by Equation 1 pointing out the relationship between these parameters:
a (1)
f=
4L
Intuitively, an extension of the resonator length results in a drop of the resonant frequency. This has been
demonstrated experimentally by Cahyadi et al. [8]. This study emphasizes the importance of selecting the resonator
length carefully for TAE to work optimally and produce higher acoustic power. Although several studies have
demonstrated the impact of the geometry of TAE on its performance, to the authors’ knowledge, no study have shown
how to take this aspect into account during the designing. We are proposing a new TAE model made of two portions
that could be adjusted during operation in order to allow a single device to have different operating configurations
(Fig. 2 and Fig. 3). The aim of this work is to perform a preliminary investigation on the influence of the length
adjustment of the proposed TAE model and get an insight into the benefit of this designing approach. This analysis
was performed numerically using the modelling code called DELTAEC (Design Environment for Low-amplitude
Thermo-Acoustic Energy Conversion). The resonator length constitutes the focus of this analysis. This modelling
code is useful in predicting the performance of thermo-acoustic system. It is freely available on the Los Alamos
National Laboratory website. Details about the designing of this adjustable system are available in Ref. [7].
1352 S. Balonji et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 35 (2019) 1350–1355
Balonji S./ Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2016) 000–000 3

(1)
(5)
Key
(2)
Number Description

1. Buffer volume
(3)
2. Adjustable resonator (0-500 mm extension)
3. Shell and tube heat exchanger
4. Honeycomb ceramic stack

(4) 5. 2 mm 12-gauge nichrome heating coil coupled to stack

Fig. 2. TAE set-up

Fig. 3. Adjustable TAE model

2. Modelling with DeltaEC

The computer program DelaEC (Design Environment for Low Amplitude) was used to study the behaviour of the
adjustable TAE. This model was built in order to approximate the geometry of the TAE and get an insight into the
trend of the frequency, the onset temperature, the acoustic power and the efficiency when the resonator is
extended/retracted. The major segments used to build the devices are BEGIN, DUCT, HX, CONE, HARDEND,
COMPLIANCE and RPN. A summary of the main parameters adopted in this study is provided in Table 2. The model
incorporated five guesses (G) and five targets (T).
 S. Balonji et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 35 (2019) 1350–1355 1353
4 Balonji S./ Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2016) 000–000

Fig. 4. DeltaEC model

Key: Main design parameters

Segment Parameters
(0) BEGIN Pm: 1.2 E+6 Pa; f: 60.084 Hz (G); T: 323.89 K (G); |p| : 1.79E+4 (G); |U|: 0.576 m3/s (G)
(2) DUCT A: 8.3323E-3 m2; L: 0.132 m
(3) HX A: 8.3323E-3 m2; L: 3.0E-2 m; yo: 5.0E-4 m; HeatIn 2000 W
(4) STKSLAB (Celcor) Ls: 0.10 m; yo=2.243E-4 m; Lplate: 1.25 E-4 m
(5) HX HeatIn -5171 W (G); T: 300 K (T)
(8) CONE L: 6.0E-2 m
(9) DUCT A: 2.463E-3 m2; L: 0.5-1.5 m
(11) CONE L: 6.0E-2 m
(12) DUCT L: 5.0E-2 m;
(13) CONE A: 2.52E-2 m2; L: 0.10 m
(14) COMPLIANCE Surface area: 1 m2; Volume: 2.5E-2 m3

2.1. Illustration of the simulation procedure

Fig. 4 shows the model DeltaEC adopted for this study. The analysis focuses on the resonator length described by
“DUCT 9”. This component has been adjusted in the range of 0.5 to 1.5 m corresponding to the resonator
extension/retraction. After each run, the performance indicators namely the onset temperature, the frequency, the
acoustic power and the efficiency have been recorded.

3. Results and discussions

Eleven runs have been performed in order to study the influence of the resonator extension/refraction on the
performance of the TAE. The results obtained are reported in Table 1. In order to analyze the results trend, these
results have been presented graphically in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6. Fig. 5 confirms the fact that extending the resonator length
results in a drop of the resonant frequency as per Equation. 1. It appears that the onset temperature increases from
320oC to 330oC approximatively when the resonator is extended from 0.5 m to 1.5 m respectively. This might be due
to the necessity to have a higher input power in order to overcome the viscous losses proportional to the resonator
length. Fig. 6 suggests that an extension of the resonator length affects the acoustic power and results in a drop of the
TAE efficiency. This could be explained by the relatively higher viscous losses proportional to the resonator length.
It appears that an adjustment of the resonator length affects the frequency, thermal efficiency and sound pressure of
the TAE. Longer resonators resulted in lower frequency outputs and lower sound pressures. Thermal efficiency
decreases when the resonator was extended.
1354 S. Balonji et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 35 (2019) 1350–1355
Balonji S./ Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2016) 000–000 5

Table 1. DeltaEC results

Duct extension Frequency Acoustic power Onset temperature Efficiency
0.5 60.084 2960.1 323.89 0.413
0.6 56.181 2966.9 324.83 0.394
0.7 52.944 2977.0 325.71 0.377
0.8 50.196 2972.2 326.47 0.362
0.9 47.827 2969.6 327.19 0.348
1.0 45.758 2968.8 327.88 0.335
1.1 43.924 2954.7 328.46 0.323
1.2 42.282 2923.1 328.92 0.313
1.3 40.811 2917.6 329.49 0.304
1.4 39.482 2922.4 330.09 0.295
1.5 38.264 2907.9 330.26 0.286

Fig. 5. Onset temperature and frequency as a Fig. 6. Acoustic power and efficiency as a function
function of the duct extension of the duct extension

4. Conclusion

In this paper, a numerical model describing an adjustable TAE have been built within DeltaEC. The resonator
extension has been investigated in order to get an insight into its impact on the performance of the TAE. The results
trend obtained from the simulation performed, suggest that a change of the resonator length affect the onset
temperature, the resonant frequency, the acoustic power and the thermal efficiency of the device. Although this fact
was known from previous studies, this work points out the advantage of developing an adjustable TAE in order to be
able to operate the device at different configuration. It appears that an adjustment of the resonator length affects the
frequency, thermal efficiency and sound pressure of the TAE. Longer resonators resulted in lower frequency outputs
and lower sound pressures. Thermal efficiency decreases when the resonator was extended.

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support received from the Faculty of Engineering of the
University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa. On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states
that there is no conflict of interest.
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6 Balonji S./ Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2016) 000–000

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