Experimental investigation of a thermoacoustic-Stirling refrigerator driven by a thermoacoustic-Stirling heat engine

In this paper, a thermally-driven thermoacoustic refrigerator system without any moving part is reported. This refrigeration system consists of a thermoacoustic-Stirling heat engine and a thermoacoustic-Stirling refrigerator; that is, the former is the driving source for the latter. Both the subsystems are designed to operate on traveling-wave mode. In the experiment, it was found that the DC-flows had significant negative effect on the heat engine and the refrigerator. To suppress these DC-flows, two flexible membranes were inserted into the two subsystems and worked very well. Then extensive experiments were made to test the influence of different parameters on refrigeration performance of the whole system. The system has so far achieved a no-load temperature of -65 degrees C, a cooling capacity of about 270 W at -20 degrees C and 405 W at 0 degrees C; in fact, the result showed a good prospect of the refrigeration system in room-temperature cooling such as food refrigeration and air-conditioning.     

A numerical simulation method and analysis of a complete thermoacoustic-Stirling engine

Thermoacoustic prime movers can generate pressure oscillation without any moving parts on self-excited thermoacoustic effect. The details of the numerical simulation methodology for thermoacoustic engines are presented in the paper. First, a four-port network method is used to build the transcendental equation of complex frequency as a criterion to judge if temperature distribution of the whole thermoacoustic system is correct for the case with given heating power. Then, the numerical simulation of a thermoacoustic-Stirling heat engine is carried out. It is proved that the numerical simulation code can run robustly and output what one is interested in. Finally, the calculated results are compared with the experiments of the thermoacoustic-Stirling heat engine (TASHE). It shows that the numerical simulation can agrees with the experimental results with acceptable accuracy.     

热声发动机的CFD数值模拟

采用计算流体动力学(CFD)方法,对高频驻波热声发动机和热声斯特林发动机实验系统分别进行了二维和三维数值模拟。计算模型具有与实验系统相同的几何结构、尺寸和运行工况。对计算模型的有效性进行了研究,表明实现有限换热条件的板叠实物模型适合驻波热声发动机的模拟,而实现局域热平衡的多孔介质模型适合热声斯特林发动机的模拟。计算结果成功观测到了非线性的自激振荡演化过程,捕捉到了两种发动机的不同非线性现象。计算结果分别给出了两种热声发动机内部的声场分布特性和复杂流场。计算结果与实验结果的对比验证了CFD方法对高频驻波热声发动机和热声斯特林发动机模拟的有效性。     

热声发动机用加热器的设计与实验验证

热声发动机利用热声效应将热能转换为机械能,热能由核心部件加热器提供。加热器在热声发动机的能量传递和转化过程中起着举足轻重的作用。针对热声发动机的工作特点,介绍了一种采用时均流对流换热公式进行热声发动机用加热器设计的方法。基于该方法,设计了一种新型热声发动机用电加热器,并应用于自行研制的太型多功能行波热声发动机试验台。设计计算和实验结果表明,该加热器能够充分满足热声发动机的加热要求。本文对以振荡流体为特征的换热器设计具有一定参考价值。     

谐振管形状对热声发动机内非线性声场的影响

研究了谐振管一端受活塞声源激励,另一端刚性封闭条件下,管道形状对热声发动机谐振管内部非线性声场的影响。基于流体力学基本方程建立了渐变截面谐振管内一维非线性声场的模型,考虑了黏性耗散及非线性效应的影响。利用伽辽金法数值求解了该模型的速度势方程,分析了谐振管形状、活塞振动速度及激励频率对管内声场的影响。将双曲形、指数形、锥形、正弦形等四种变截面谐振管内的非线性声场与圆柱形直管的情况进行了比较。结果反映了谐振管内声场的压力波动受活塞振动速度及谐振管形状的影响;显示了当活塞振动幅度较大时,谐振管内出现的波形畸变、频率曲线偏移、共振频率滞后等非线性现象;揭示了变截面谐振管在抑制管内的高阶谐波及提高压比等方面的优越性。      

四分之一波长锥形谐振管共振频率的研究

在热声发动机系统中,谐振管用来调节系统的超振频率.通常的四分之一波长谐振管由一段谐振管后面连接一个比较大的气体容积构成,与二分之一波长谐振管相比,在相同的起振频率下前者可以有相对短的管长.锥形谐振管除了调节频率外,还可以提高热声发动机输出压力波的压比.本文通过数值计算软件Fluent6.0中的K-ε湍流模型模拟了不同长度、不同的进出口直径的一系列锥形谐振管,得出了近似四分之一波长锥形谐振管的共振频率与其长度、锥度之间的关系,并初步与实验进行了对照.     

行波型热声热机的研究进展

Ceperley首先提出了行波型热声热机的概念 ,此后许多研究者对此类型的热机进行了理论及实验研究。文中对行波型热声热机的发展历史、研究现状及应用前景进行了简要介绍     

Influence of resonator shape on nonlinear acoustic field in a thermoacoustic engine

The influence of the resonator shape on nonlinear acoustic field in a thermoacoustic engine is studied.The resonator of themoacoustic engine is boundary driving by a piston at one end,and the other end of it is rigid closed.A one-dimensional wave equation that accounts for gas dynamic nonlinearities and viscous dissipation in the resonator is established based on the governing equations of viscous hydromechanics.The nonlinear wave equation is solved using approximate Galerkin method.The nonlinear acoustic field in four different types of shaped resonators including hyperbolical,exponential,conical and sinusoidal are obtained and compared with that of a cylindrical resonator.It is found that the amplitude and waveform of the pressure are strongly affected by the resonator shape,the driving amplitude and the oscillation frequency of the piston.Waveform distortion,resonance frequency shift and hysteresis are observed,when the piston oscillation amplitude is large enough.The advantages of shaped resonator for thermoacoustic engine lie in inhibition of higher order harmonics and improvement of pressure ratio,etc.     

A thermoacoustic-Stirling heat engine: detailed study

A new type of thermoacoustic engine based on traveling waves and ideally reversible heat transfer is described. Measurements and analysis of its performance are presented. This new engine outperforms previous thermoacoustic engines, which are based on standing waves and intrinsically irreversible heat transfer, by more than 50%. At its most efficient operating point, it delivers 710 W of acoustic power to its resonator with a thermal efficiency of 0.30, corresponding to 41% of the Carnot efficiency. At its most powerful operating point, it delivers 890 W to its resonator with a thermal efficiency of 0.22. The efficiency of this engine can be degraded by two types of acoustic streaming. These are suppressed by appropriate tapering of crucial surfaces in the engine and by using additional nonlinearity to induce an opposing time-averaged pressure difference. Data are presented which show the nearly complete elimination of the streaming convective heat loads. Analysis of these and other irreversibilities show which components of the engine require further research to achieve higher efficiency. Additionally, these data show that the dynamics and acoustic power flows are well understood, but the details of the streaming suppression and associated heat convection are only qualitatively understood.     

40K温区的热驱动低温热声制冷机

热声驱动脉管制冷机主要由热声发动机和脉管制冷机组成,是一种完全无运动部件的新型低温制冷机。本文在实验室现有行波热声发动机的基础上,运用线性热声理论对两级脉管制冷机进行了设计,并用声学放大器对热声发动机和脉管制冷机进行耦合,提高脉管制冷机的驱动压比,从而获得了41 K的低温,这是目前热声驱动脉管制冷机所获得的最低制冷温度。正因为本热声驱动脉管制冷机系统的热驱动特性及其主要部件都是按照热声理论进行设计,所以我们将其称为热驱动低温热声制冷机。     

行波热声发动机的优化设计

对行波热声发动机进行了优化设计 ;对回热器内部的功的损失和回热器的热漏损失进行了分析 ;给出了行波热声热机回热器的优化结构 ;对于设计行波型热声发动机有非常重要的理论指导意义。     

热声发动机的优化计算设计

把改进的12-Bit格子气模型用于复杂边界的热声发动机的模拟研究,成功模拟了带共振腔的驻波管中热声振荡演化过程。对热声板叠的长度、热声板叠在共振管中的位置以及共振腔的几何大小对热声振荡振幅的影响进行了数值计算。计算结果显示,当共振腔与细管的宽度比为2.2,板叠位置相对于细管长为0.34时,驻波管中热声振荡振幅达到最大。共振腔尺寸的研究,对于热声发动机性能的的优化设计有指导意义。     

气-液双作用行波热声发动机性能研究

本文提出了环形三部分对称结构的气液双作用行波热声发动机,该发动机采用U形谐振管并引入液体活塞。本文针对平均工作压力、加热器加热量以及液体活塞质量等不同运行参数对系统性能的影响进行了数值模拟。模拟结果表明,提高平均工作压力、增大加热器加热量有利于提升系统压力振幅;引入液体活塞1.13 kg时,系统谐振频率达到最小值17.48 Hz。     

热声斯特林发电系统的实验研究

本文介绍了一台由热声斯特林发动机及其驱动的直线发电机组成的热声斯特林发电系统原理样机.一方面为满足发电机与发动机间体积流率和相位的匹配要求,另一方面为了能在直线发电机活塞处获得较好的压力波与体积流率间相位关系、提高直线发电机的电功输出能力,装置保留了发动机原有的锥形谐振管.初步实验以氦气为工质,在2.5MPa平均压力、64Hz工作频率下,获得了97W的电功.本文还分析了该热声发电系统的效率,得出直线发电机声电转换效率超过了0.8.然而由于谐振管耗散了大量的声功,目前整机的热电转换效率还较低.     

An open-air infrasonic thermoacoustic engine

A low-frequency open-air thermoacoustic engine in a Helmholtz resonator has been constructed. Tests indicate that the system resonates in the Helmholtz mode for modest thermoacoustic stack temperature differences using stacks of varying type and pore size located within the neck of the Helmholtz resonator. The maximum acoustic pressure radiated from the open end of the resonator corresponds to 81 dB-SPL ref 20 μPa at a stack temperature difference of 185 K and an input electric power of 276 W. The system is well characterized by a numerical model of a representative stack.     

Influence of resonance tube geometry shape on performance of thermoacoustic engine

Based on the linear thermoacoustics, a symmetrical standing-wave thermoacoustic engine is simulated with a cylindrical tube and a tapered one as the resonance tube, respectively. The experiments with both cylindrical and tapered tubes are carried out. The suppression of nonlinear effects due to tapered tube as the resonance tube is discussed. Both simulation and experimental results show that the performance of the tapered tube is better than cylindrical one as the resonance tube.     

改进型驻波热声发动机的实验研究

压比是热声发动机性能的一个重要衡量参数。驻波发动机由于自身热力过程的不可逆性,使得目前所能获得的压比通常都比较低。笔者认为除了发动机各部件的尺寸参数之外,换热器的换热性能也是影响发动机压比的一个重要参数。因此本文对驻波热声发动机的换热器进行了改进设计,增强了加热器与工作介质的换热效果,系统的工作压比有了较大的提高。采用氦气、氮气和二氧化碳作为工质,其压比分别达到了1.15、1.22和1.215。     

Design and experiment on a mini cascade thermoacoustic engine

A miniature cascade thermoacoustic engine had been designed and tested, which length was about 1m, operating at 500 Hz. Pilot study and experimental results shown a rather good agreement between measured and calculated pressure fields and temperatures distributions in the thermoaoustic engine. The peak-to-peak value of the acoustic pressure was 0.02 MPa at the 1.8 MPa charged pressure of helium. Some efforts had been made to extend the traveling-wave region based on the analysis of the acoustic impedance.     

1kW碟式太阳能行波热声发电系统

碟式太阳能行波热声发电是近年来兴起的新型热发电技术,具有可靠性好、潜在效率高、分布灵活等优点。本文介绍了正在研制的一套1 kW碟式太阳能行波热声发电系统。该系统利用碟式集热器收集太阳辐射热量,通过高温热管将热量传输到发动机热端,再采用行波热声发电机进行热-电转换。初步调试采用高频加热模拟太阳能,以3.5 MPa氦气为工质、加热温度为751℃和798℃时分别实现了116 W和255 W的电功输出。实验验证了系统的可行性。目前系统的安装调试仍在进行中,相关的实验结果将在后续的文章中进行报道。     

Influence of stack geometry and resonator length on the performance of thermoacoustic engine

Thermoacoustic engines convert heat energy into high amplitude sound waves, which is used to drive thermoacoustic refrigerator or pulse tube cryocoolers by replacing the mechanical pistons such as compressors. The increasing interest in thermoacoustic technology is of its potentiality of no exotic materials, low cost and high reliability compared to vapor compression refrigeration systems. The experimental setup has been built based on the linear thermoacoustic model and some simple design parameters. The engines produce acoustic energy at the temperature difference of 325–450 K imposed along the stack of the system. This work illustrates the influence of stack parameters such as plate thickness (PT) and plate spacing (PS) with resonator length on the performance of thermoacoustic engine, which are measured in terms of onset temperature difference, resonance frequency and pressure amplitude using air as a working fluid. The results obtained from the experiments are in good agreement with the theoretical results from DeltaEc.