Theoretical Evaluation of a 10-Watt Cooling Power Thermoacoustic Refrigerator

This article deals with the design, simulation, and analysis of a 10-watt capacity thermoacoustic refrigerator using short-stack boundary layer approximation assumptions and dimensional normalization technique. The variation of stack diameter with average gas pressure and cooling power is studied. The theoretical evaluation of quarter-wavelength and one-fifth-wavelength resonator using helium gas is discussed for an operating frequency ranging from 300-500 Hz in the steps of 50 Hz. For the optimized stack, a 38.5% improvement in the stack performance for a 10-watt cooling power quarter-wavelength hemispherical-ended resonator operating at 350 Hz frequency resulted in a 13.5% improvement in the coefficient of performance (COP) compared to published results. The resonator design is tested with DeltaEC software with 2% and 3% drive ratios using helium, hydrogen, neon, air, and carbon dioxide as working gases and the results are discussed. (C) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.