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Thermoacoustic refrigeration.

Author(s) : GARRETT S. L., HOFLER T. J.

Type of article: Article

Summary

Thermoacoustic refrigeration was developed in the US for the space program. If a sealed tube, filled with an inert gas, is of a length one quarter of a wavelength set up by a loudspeaker at one end, a standing wave develops resulting in the alternate compression and expansion of gas particles at the other end of the tube. A stack of plates here can absorb the heat of compression. The particles of oscillating gas pass heat to each other and hence to the stack. Heat can therefore be removed from the stack at one end of the tube and absorbed into the gas from a heat exchanger at the other end, thus maintaining a temperature difference throughout the tube length. A space thermoacoustic refrigerator was designed for the US space shuttle program. Practical details of this are described and the energy transport formulae are developed. D.W.H.

Details

  • Original title: Thermoacoustic refrigeration.
  • Record ID : 1993-2630
  • Languages: English
  • Source: ASHRAE Journal - vol. 34 - n. 12
  • Publication date: 1992/12
  • Document available for consultation in the library of the IIR headquarters only.

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