Mixture Working Gases in Thermoacoustic Engines for Different Applications

Abstract

For working gases in thermoacoustic engines, the most important characteristics are low Prandtl number and high ratio of specific heats. These properties change a lot with pressure for some gases, which makes selecting a working gas under high pressure different from that under normal pressure. This article presents optimization calculations for gas mixtures under different pressures. Results show that binary mixtures of helium and xenon can reach the lowest Prandtl number and highest ratio of specific heats when the pressure is lower than 4.5MPa. When the pressure is higher than 4.5MPa, however, the lowest Prandtl number is obtained with a mixture of helium and krypton. It is found that ternary mixtures may be better working gases than binary mixtures in thermoacoustic engines, especially under high pressure. For example, a helium–argon–xenon ternary mixture can be used to obtain a relatively low Prandtl number and high ratio of specific heats. In addition, this article shows that mixtures containing carbon dioxide and other gases can also result in useful working gases. This suggests that it is possible to replace the expensive xenon gas with cheap carbon dioxide for some applications. Finally, the effect of temperature on the Prandtl number, the ratio of specific heats, and the thermal penetration depth is also studied, and a more reasonable construction of the thermoacoutic couple is presented. The results of this study should be useful for helping select working gases in thermoacoustic engines for different applications and design goals.