Numerical study of thermoacoustic heat exchangers

Etienne Besnoin*, Omar M. Knio

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

35 Scopus citations

Abstract

Unsteady simulations of the flow field in the neighborhood of the stack and heat exchangers of an idealized thermoacoustic refrigerator are performed using a vorticity-based scheme for low-Mach-number flow. The computations are applied to analyze the effects of drive ratio, plate thickness, heat exchanger length and position on the performance of the device and on the flow behavior. The results indicate that the cooling load peaks at a well-defined combination of heat exchanger thickness, length, and width of the gap between the heat exchangers and the stack plates. At high drive ratio, the flow exhibits sustained unsteady behavior and is characterized by the appearance of a large-amplitude wavy motion within the gap, between the plates and in the vicinity of the thermoacoustic stack. It is also found that this phenomenon leads to enhancement of the cooling load and affects optimal heat exchanger parameters.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)432-444
Number of pages13
JournalActa Acustica united with Acustica
Volume90
Issue number3
StatePublished - May 2004
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Music
  • Acoustics and Ultrasonics

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