Computation of the temperature distortion in the stack of a standing-wave thermoacoustic refrigerator

The numerical computation of the flow and heat transfer in the vicinity of a stack plate in a standing wave refrigerator is performed. Temperature distortion is observed, which appears only in the stack region, even if the acoustic standing wave outside the stack is itself sinusoidal. The distortion takes place above the whole plate surface when the length of the plate is equal to or shorter than four times the particle displacement. This condition may occur at high drive ratios and is favored by plate positions close to the velocity antinode. The thermal distortion decreases the thermoacoustic heat pumping along the plate. At high drive ratios, if the length of the plate is not large enough, the thermal distortion can typically explain a difference of about 10% between the calculated heat flux and the heat flux predicted using linear theory. (c) 2005 Acoustical Society of America.