Thermoacoustic prime movers and refrigerators: Thermally powered engines without moving components

Thermoacoustic engines attract much attention for their lack of moving parts and relatively benign environmental impact. In this review, an introduction of the thermoacoustic effect is supported by a summary of related theoretical models for thermoacoustics. An overview of the current research and e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energy (Oxford) 2015-12, Vol.93, p.828-853
Main Authors: Jin, Tao, Huang, Jiale, Feng, Ye, Yang, Rui, Tang, Ke, Radebaugh, Ray
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Engines
Environmental impact
Miniature
No moving component
Prime mover
Prime movers
Pulse tubes
Refrigerator
Refrigerators
Summaries
Thermoacoustic engine
Thermoacoustics
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Summary:Thermoacoustic engines attract much attention for their lack of moving parts and relatively benign environmental impact. In this review, an introduction of the thermoacoustic effect is supported by a summary of related theoretical models for thermoacoustics. An overview of the current research and experimental prototypes including typical thermoacoustic prime movers, thermoacoustic refrigerators, thermoacoustically driven pulse tube refrigerators, thermoacoustic generators and miniature thermoacoustic engines is presented. The worldwide research activities and the related advances in the thermoacoustic engines, mainly in past 30 years, are reviewed in details. Finally, we present a short summary of promotional studies and perspectives in this developing research field. •An introduction of the thermoacoustic effect is supported by a summary of related theoretical models for thermoacoustics.•The worldwide research activities and the related advances in the thermoacoustic engines are reviewed in details.•A short summary of promotional studies and perspectives in this developing research field is presented.
ISSN:0360-5442
DOI:10.1016/j.energy.2015.09.005