Thermoacoustic, Small Cavity Excitation to Achieve Optimal Performance

The compactness of thermoacoustic devices is a topic of continuing importance in fundamental thermoacoustics and in its practical applications. The design for a small scale thermoacoustic refrigerator is presented in this paper. Two loudspeakers, set at the opposite ends of a small cavity and fully enclosed within the device, create an appropriate acoustic field inside a stack filling this cavity. A push-pull concept with two cavities placed on either side of one of the loudspeakers could be considered. An analytical approach describing the pressure and velocity fields which can be obtained from these sources is provided, assuming that the wavelength is much greater than the dimensions of the cavity. This new thermoacoustic device simultaneously provides compactness and flexibility compared to the classical standing wave or traveling wave devices which would achieve equivalent performances.