Thermal losses considerations in thermo-acoustic engine design

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Thermo-acoustic cooling as an environmentally friendly refrigeration system is one of the research areas being pursued. Although not commercially available and simple to fabricate, the designing of thermo-acoustic coolers involves significant technical challenges. Many fundamental issues related to the thermo-acoustic effects and the associated heat transfer must be addressed. The most inhibiting characteristic of current thermo-acoustic cooling devices is the lack of efficiency. The stack has been identified as the heart of the device where the heat transfer takes place. Improving its performance will make thermo-acoustic technology more attractive. Most of the existing efforts have not taken thermal losses to the surroundings into account in the derivation of the models. Five different parameters describing the stack geometry and the angular frequency of the standing wave are considered. This work explores the use of a multi-objective optimization approach to model and to optimize the performance of a simple thermo-acoustic engine. The present study highlights the importance of thermal losses in the modelling of small-scale thermo-acoustic engines using a multi-objective approach. The unique characteristic of this research is the computing of all efficient optimal solutions describing the best geometrical configuration of thermo-acoustic engines.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 10th South African Conference on Computational and Applied Mechanics, SACAM 2016
EditorsJan-Hendrik Kruger
PublisherSouth African Association Computational and Applied Mechanics
ISBN (Electronic)9781868226733
Publication statusPublished - 3 Oct 2016
Event10th South African Conference on Computational and Applied Mechanics, SACAM 2016 - Potchefstroom, South Africa
Duration: 3 Oct 20165 Oct 2016

Publication series

NameProceedings of the 10th South African Conference on Computational and Applied Mechanics, SACAM 2016

Conference

Conference10th South African Conference on Computational and Applied Mechanics, SACAM 2016
Country/TerritorySouth Africa
CityPotchefstroom
Period3/10/165/10/16

Keywords

  • Heat flow
  • Modelling
  • Multi-objective optimization
  • Stack
  • Thermo-acoustic engine

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Computational Mechanics

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