Design analysis and development of a thermoacoustic engine

Thermoacoustic devices (TAD) deal with the conversion of thermal energy to acoustic energy and vice versa without any moving component. Combining a thermoacoustic engine (TAE) with Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler results in an entire vibration free system and makes it suitable for long-term space applications.In this paper, a comprehensive design and optimization method of a TAE producing 50 W of acoustic power output is discussed. Based on the knowledge available in open literature, a TAE is designed and presented. The stack is placed inside a cylindrical resonator of 12.6 cm internal diameter. It is made of 0.2 mm thick stainless steel tubes with a inner diameter of 0.6 mm. The engine operates at 800 K at the hot end of the stack through electrical heater placed inside the resonance tube and the other end of the stack is cooled using air at normal temperature.