Investigation on traveling wave thermoacoustic heat engine with high pressure amplitude

As the thermoacoustic conversion process occurring in its regenerator is considered reversible, a traveling wave thermoacoustic engine can theoretically produce and transmit acoustic power with high efficiency. A large scale multifunction thermoacoustic engine has been designed, constructed and tested. Compared with the results of standing wave thermoacoustic heat engines, the experimental results show the engine has a lower onset temperature, much higher pressure ratio and higher efficiency. With the filling nitrogen of 0.9 MPa, the maximal pressure ratio reached 1.21, and the operation frequency was steady at 25 Hz. The single stage U type orifice pulse tube cooler driven by the engine reached 153.7 K when the working pressure was 1.5 MPa. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.