20813 Analysis of energy flow for thermoacoustic refrigerator

The thermoacoustic effect is energy conversion between heat and sound. When heat energy is converted to the oscillation of sound, the heat pump cycle is driven by using that oscillation. As the Termoacoustic refrigerator is an external combustion engine, therefore it has flexbility for selecting the heat source, working fluid, and the mechanism is so simple. In this work, the energy flow for thermoacoustic refrigerator was calculated to clarify the energy efficiency. About 70% of the input heat was transferd by the sound flow and radiation. When the orifice was inserted in the tube to reduce the heat transfer by sound, the efficiency was improved.