Generation Mechanism of Heat Flows near the Stack as a Prime Mover in a Thermoacoustic Cooling System

Abstract

Temperature variations in a thermoacoustic cooling system consisting of a loop-tube were investigated. The heat flows were discussed using observation results of the temperature variations in the tube. The regenerator, stack 1, was employed as a prime mover and stack 2 as a heat pump. At the cooling point, on the stack 2, the temperature decrease of 22°C was confirmed. Heat flows did not appear in the location far from the stack 1 except near the stack 2. On the other hand, heat flows induced by the sound energy flow and acoustic streaming, appeared near the stack 1. The sound energy flow was caused by the thermoacoustic effect. The directions of the sound energy flow and heat flow were opposite, according to the energy conservation law. In the loop-tube, the strong nonlinearity was observed in the generated sound, and the acoustic streaming was induced.