Development and Assessment of Two-Stage Thermoacoustic Electricity Generator

Ahmed Hamood, Artur J. Jaworski and Xiaoan Mao
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Ahmed Hamood: School of Computing and Engineering, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, UK
Artur J. Jaworski: School of Computing and Engineering, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, UK
Xiaoan Mao: Faculty of Engineering, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 9, 1-18

Abstract: This paper presents the development and assessment of a two-stage thermoacoustic electricity generator that aims to mimic the conversion of waste heat from the internal combustion engine exhaust gases into useful electricity. The one wavelength configuration consists of two identical stages which allow coupling a linear alternator in a “push-pull” mode because of the 180° out of phase acoustic excitation on two sides of the piston. This type of coupling is a possible solution for the low acoustic impedance of looped-tube traveling-wave thermoacoustic engines. The experimental set-up is 16.1 m long and runs at 54.7 Hz. The working medium is helium at maximum pressure of 28 bar. In practice, the maximum generated electric power was 73.3 W at 5.64% thermal-to-electric efficiency. The working parameters, namely load resistance, mean pressure and heating power, were investigated. System debugging illustrates the effect of local acoustic impedance of the regenerator on the start-up process of the thermoacoustic engine. The additional modelling showed that the feedback loop length can be reduced by using a combination of acoustic inertance and compliance components.

Keywords: thermoacoustic electricity generator; multi-stage; traveling-wave heat engine; push-pull; inertance-compliance; acoustic streaming (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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