Novel Helmholtz resonator used to focus acoustic energy of thermoacoustic engine

A thermoacoustic engine (TE) converts thermal energy into acoustic power without any mechanical moving parts. It shows several advantages over traditional engines, such as simple configuration, stable operation, and environment-friendly working gas. In order to further improve the performance of a thermoacoustically driven system, methods are needed to focus the acoustic energy of a TE to its load. By theoretical analysis based on linear thermoacoustics, a novel Helmholtz resonator is proposed to increase the transmission ability of a TE, which makes full use of the interaction between inertance and compliance effects. With this configuration, the output pressure amplitude of a TE is amplified and the maximal pressure amplitude can occur at the end of the Helmholtz resonator tube with a length much shorter than 1/4 wavelength. Furthermore, the Helmholtz resonator has shown remarkably increased volume flow rates at both ends. In experiments, a Helmholtz resonator amplifies the pressure ratio from 1.22 to 1.49 and produces pressure amplitude of 0.44 MPa with nitrogen of 2.2 MPa as working gas. Relatively good agreements are obtained between computational and experimental results. This research is instructive for comprehensively understanding the transmission characteristics of acoustic components. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.