Design and construction of a solar thermal powered thermo- acoustically driven thermoacoustic refrigerator

Abstract

A compact, small temperature span, thermoacoustically driven thermoacoustic refrigerator powered by solar thermal energy has been successfully built and tested. An 18-in-diam Fresnel lens was used to focus sunlight at 475<th>°C onto the hot end of a 1-in-diam reticulated vitreous carbon prime mover stack, thereby eliminating the need for a hot heat exchanger. The high intensity sound waves produced by the prime mover were used to power a thermoacoustic refrigerator to produce 4 W of cooling power at a cold temperature of 5<th>°C and a temperature span of 18<th>°C.