Thermoacoustics with idealized heat exchangers and no stack.
A model is developed for thermoacoustic devices that have neither stack nor regenerator. These "no-stack" devices have heat exchangers placed close together in an acoustic standing wave of sufficient amplitude to allow individual parcels of gas to enter both exchangers. The assumption of perfect heat transfer in the exchangers facilitates the construction of a simple model similar to the "moving parcel picture" that is used as a first approach to stack-based engines and refrigerators. The model no-stack cycle is shown to have potentially greater inviscid efficiency than a comparable stack model. However, losses from flow through the heat exchangers and on the walls of the enclosure are greater than those in a stack-based device due to the increased acoustic pressure amplitude. Estimates of these losses in refrigerators are used to compare the possible efficiencies of real refrigerators made with or without a stack. The model predicts that no-stack refrigerators can exceed stack-based refrigerators in efficiency, but only for particular enclosure geometries.
Wakeland
Ray Scott
RS
The Pennsylvania State University, Graduate Program in Acoustics, State College 16804-0030, USA. wakeland@psu.edu
Keolian
Robert M
RM