Thermoacoustic

Refrigeration

By Jackie Branscomb

Motivation
Pros
Uses sound for refrigeration no harmful
chemicals (CFCs, HFCs, HCFCs)
Few moving partsmore reliable
Not harmful to the environment

Cons
Most efficent is approaching 40% of Carnot
limit
20-30% overall efficiency

Parts of Acoustic
Refrigerator
Two main parts
Driver
Houses the Loudspeaker
Resonator
Houses the gas (in this case Helium)
The hot and cold heat exchangers
Houses the Stack

How it works
Moving coil Loudspeaker
Inside 2 magnets with metal coil between them, current is induced
causing coil to move
Creates sound waves up to 200 dB!

Resonatorwhere gas cooling and compression take

place
Uses inert gas, commonly Helium

Stack
Series of small parallel channels through which pressure and
velocity of waves change
In between the heat exchangers

Heat Exchangers
Hot heat exchanger to remove excess heat
Cold heat exchanger for refrigeration

Acoustic Refrigerator

Applications
Ben & Jerrys
Ice cream storage containers
200 L at 18 degrees Fahrenheit

U.S. Navy
Wants acoustic refrigerators for submarines
Refrigerant leaks on subs are a deadly
problem
With acoustic refrigerators, no harmful fluids