Thermoacoustic travelling-wave cooler driven by a cascade thermoacoustic engine

This paper proposes a novel configuration of a cooler driven by a cascade thermoacoustic engine. It consists of a standing-wave thermoacoustic engine, a travelling-wave thermoacoustic engine and a travelling-wave thermoacoustic cooler in series. The engines provide acoustic energy to drive the cooler. The three main components have a linear topology without the need for using feedback loops. Modelling and simulation of the cascade arrangement, together with the experimental results, are described in this paper. In the presented system, an acoustic absorption element is adopted to induce a higher acoustic power transfer, which increases the travelling-wave component in the acoustic field. It makes the regenerators of both the travelling-wave engine and cooler work in the travelling-wave phase region and allows the thermoacoustic performance offered by both the travelling-wave and the standing-wave to be utilized more effectively. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.