Waste-heat-driven thermoacoustic engine and refrigerator

Abstract

Thermoacoustic engines are a suitable technology for capturing waste heat to perform useful work. These engines utilise a temperature gradient to encourage high amplitude acoustic waves in a resonant chamber. A standing-wave thermoacoustic prime mover and refrigerator combination has been designed and built. The waste heat source is the exhaust gas stream from a common internal combustion engine. The device was designed such that the prime mover harvests approximately 8% of the available waste heat at cruise, and the refrigerator heat load approximates that of two people. The prime mover and refrigerator combination has no moving parts, and uses helium as a working gas.