A high-performance thermoacoustic refrigerator operating in room-temperature range

The working principle of an efficient travelling- wave thermoacoustic refrigerator operating in room-temperature range has been analyzed and an experimental set-up has been built. The experiment showed that suppressing DC-flow streaming was very critical to efficient operation, and an elastic membrane was used to solve the problem successfully. At the most efficient operating point, the novel thermoacoustic refrigerator achieved a cooling capacity of about 80 W at -20℃, with a much higher efficiency than previously developed standing-wave thermoacoustic refrigerator.     

Two-port network model and startup criteria for thermoacoustic oscillators

The startup process of a thermoacoustic engine is a self-excited oscillation process generated in inhomogeneous acoustic media. To reveal these coupling relations between various influential factors is an important task of basic research on thermoacoustics. In this paper thermoacoustic engines are regarded as thermoacoustic oscillators consisting of the active network and the passive network. Accordingly, the two-port Y-parameter for relevant component is derived, and standing wave and traveling wave thermoacoustic engine are described by the negative-resistance and feedback model, respectively. The relevant two-port network topology is given as well. The startup criteria for thermoacoustic oscillators are obtained by using Nyquist instability criterion. The model prediction of startup parameters, particularly, startup frequency and mode characteristic are in agreement with that of experimental results reported in the literature. Moreover, with topological graphs it is verified that standing wave engines would start up in a negative-resistance state and there would exist high frequency modes in thermoacoustic-Stirling engines. By investigating into the frequency response of thermoacoustic system, this method proposed can achieve such an objective that these effects of operating and structural parameters of engine on startup modes and startup temperature can be revealed in an analytical way. Thus this approach to test and check thermal stability can be provided in a design phase, instead of using empirical frequency to design thermoacoustic systems. Electronic Supplementary Material  Supplementary material is available for this article at and is accessible for authorized users. Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 50576024 and 51076013)     

热声热机中液相工质的选择与计算

分析了热声热机中使用的液相工质的选择方法,研究了适合于热声热机 液相工质的热力学性质和热物理性质的计算方法,并对液相工质R218进行了数值计算,计算结果已有的实验结果相符合,计算方法和结果具有令人满意的精度,研究结果可用于低品位热源如太阳能驱动的热声热机的研究与开发。     

高频驻波热声热机的数值研究

以1/4波长驻波热声热机为研究对象,建立了平行板叠结构回热器以及异形板叠结构回热器的数值模型,采用Fluent软件分析了这两种结构回热器产生的压力、速度以及流场.研究结果表明:异形板叠结构回热器自激振荡达到饱和所需的时间比较短,压力幅值比较高;非线性声场的扰动,导致不同时刻回热器冷热两端温度分布不稳定,相比平行板叠结构回热器,异形板叠结构回热器温度梯度比较小,有利于低品质热源的应用;针对板叠结构回热器,改变平板的结构,有利于实现热声系统的匹配;异形板叠结构回热器周围的流场明显强于平行板叠结构回热器,有利于流固之间的耦合,提高了热声转换的效率.     

A heat-driven thermoacoustic cryocooler capable of reaching below liquid hydrogen temperature

A "double-gas acoustic amplifier" is introduced to couple a thermoacoustic heat engine and a two-stage pulse tube cooler in this paper. Compared with previous acoustic amplifiers, this new acoustic amplifier maintains the function of amplification for pressure amplitude. In particular, the novel acoustic amplifier with a reservoir makes it possible to install an acoustic transparent but gas blocking elastic membrane between the engine and the cooler. Thus, the engine can use nitrogen as the working gas to work at low frequency; and meanwhile, the cooler can still use helium as the working gas to maintain its high performance. With this new amplifier, the cooling temperature of a two-stage pulse tube cooler driven by an energy-focused thermoacoustic engine reached 18.7 K.     

Rijke管内热声振荡机理的一种新解释

根据气体的密度、粘度和导热系数等物性参数随温度变化的规律,提出了Rijke管内热声振荡机理的一种新解释,由于气体密度随温度增加而减小,动力粘度和导热系数随温度增加而增加,故在一定的加热条件下,加热管内会形成压力与流量关系的奇异性,产生不稳定性,从而导致热声振荡,这一研究结果从另一个角度揭示了热声现象的机理,对进一步认识该现象具有一定的意义。     

热声谐振管的实验研究

以氮气为工质进行了热声谐振管的自激振荡实验 ,通过实验对热声谐振管的起振温度差、自激振荡频率和压力振幅进行了研究 ,研究结果表明 ,热声谐振管的自激振荡频率随着驻波管长度的增加而减小 ,当驻波管长为 2 .2 7m时 ,振荡频率为 65.8Hz;当驻波管长为 3 .77m时 ,振荡频率为 4 2 .1 Hz;热声谐振管的振幅随着回热器两端温度差的增加而增加 ,实验中达到的最大压力振幅为充气压力的 4 .95% ;回热器两端的起振温度差受到充气压力的影响 ,实验中当充气压力为 4× 1 0 5Pa时起振温度差最小 .     

A 300 Hz high frequency thermoacoustically driven pulse tube cooler

This article introduces the latest progress of a 300 Hz thermoacousUcally driven pulse tube cooler. Based on the experience of former experiments, improvements have been made in the standing-wave engine, pulse tube cooler and their coupling mechanism. An inlet pressure ratio of 1.248 was obtained with the mean pressure and heating power of 4.13 MPa and 1760 W, respectively. A lowest no-load temperature of 69.5 K has been reached under this condition. This is the first time for thermoacoustically driven pulse tube coolers to reach the temperature below 70 K with such a high frequency.     

实际热声热机微热力学循环性能优化

分析实际热声热机微热力学循环中的诸多因素,运用有限时间热力学方法,导出实际热声热机微热力学循环的效率与输出声功率的最优关系,分析不可逆程度因子及热漏系数对此最优关系的影响.结果表明:实际热声热机微热力学循环中存在一最佳温度振荡值,使循环在得到高效率的同时得到高输出功率,并由数值计算认证了这一结论.     

异型回热器热声热机结构动力学分析

利用商业软件ANSYS从结构动力学角度模拟分析了回热器结构的改变对热声热机的影响.在之前研究的基础上,改造了普通板叠回热器的结构,建立针束、肋片板、微坑板异形回热器模型,对包含各回热器的热声整机模型进行了结构动力学分析.分析得出,普通板叠回热器热声热机在150Hz附近谐振,而异型板叠回热器热机由于结构的改变,共振频率发生变化,在高阶模态应变到达峰值,说明了回热器的结构优化是提高热声热机性能的有效手段.