Grant Agreement no.

: 226415

Project acronym: THATEA

Project title:
THermoAcoustic Technology for Energy Applications

Instrument: Collaborative Project

Thematic Priority: FP7-ENERGY-2008-FET

FINAL REPORT

Date of preparation: 29.02.2012

Start date of project: 01.01.2009 Duration: 36 months

Project coordinator name: Simon Spoelstra

Project coordinator organisation: Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN)

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Contents
1. Executive summary 3
2. Summary description of project context and objectives. 5
3. Description of the main S&T results/foregrounds 8
3.1 Regenerator 8
3.2 Thermoacoustic engines 11
3.2.1 High-temperature engine 12
3.2.2 Low-temperature multi-stage engine 13
3.3 Thermoacoustic heat pumps 15
3.3.1 Heat pump 10°C to 80°C 15
3.3.2 Refrigerator 16
3.4 Scaling 18
3.5 Heat exchangers 20
3.5.1 Experimental research 20
3.5.2 CFD modelling 23
3.5.3 Design of practical heat exchangers 27
3.6 Resonators 29
3.6.1 Traveling wave resonator 29
3.6.2 Mechanical resonator. 30
3.7 Non-linear phenomena 33
3.7.1 Experimental research 33
3.7.2 CFD model research 34
3.7.3 Streaming reduction measures 36
3.8 Integral systems 37
3.8.1 High-temperature integral system 37
3.8.2 Low-temperature integral system 39
4. Potential impact and the main dissemination activities and exploitation of
results 42
4.1 Exploitation and impact 42
4.2 Dissemination 45
5. Contact details 48

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1. Executive summary

The objective of the THATEA (THermoAcoustic Technology for Energy Applications) project
is to advance the basic scientific and technological knowledge in the field of thermoacoustics.
The project will assess the feasibility of thermoacoustic applications to achieve conversion
efficiencies of:
 Heat to acoustic power of 40% of the maximum theoretical Carnot efficiency;
 Acoustic power to heating/cooling of 40% of the maximum theoretical Carnot efficiency.
In addition, integrated systems should be investigated that couple the separate components,
resulting in high overall system efficiency. This project is the first thermoacoustic initiative on a
European level. The partnership consists of: two SME’s (Aster, Hekyom), two research
institutes (ECN, NRG) and three leading academic groups (CNRS, UNIMAN, UNIME).

A thermoacoustic system usually comprises an engine (producing acoustic power from heat), a
heat pump (uses acoustic power to pump heat) and a resonator containing the engine and heat
pump. The core of both engine and heat pump consist of a regenerator sandwiched between two
heat exchangers. The main findings with respect to the different activities is summarized below.

Regenerator
Experiments were carried out to measure these heat transfer rate, pressure drop, and thermal
conductivity for different regenerator materials. The conclusions that the friction factor results
show good agreement with correlations from literature’s and that the heat conduction through
the regenerator material is overestimated when using the commonly used value of 0.15 as the
thermal conductivity degradation factor.

Engines
Two different types of thermoacoustic engines have been constructed and tested. Both engines
generate acoustic power from heat. The difference between the two engines concerns the driving
temperature. The high-temperature engine uses heated air up to 800°C to simulate flue gasses
from a burner, while the low-temperature engine uses heat up to 200°C as heat supply. The
high-temperature engine achieved an efficiency of 41.5 % of the Carnot efficiency, thereby
exceeding the target performance. The low-temperature engine showed an efficiency of 33 % of
the Carnot efficiency with options identified fur further improvement.

Heat pumps
Two different types of thermoacoustic heat pumping devices have been constructed and tested.
These two differ with respect to the temperature level on which they operate. One device pumps
heat from 10°C to 80°C while the second acts as an refrigerator and pumps heat from -40°C to
ambient temperature. The first device achieved 36 % of Carnot in the component testing but 40
% of Carnot as part of the integral system. The refrigerator showed a maximum performance of
33 % of Carnot. Noteworthy is that both components showed measured efficiencies much
higher than previously measured worldwide.

Scaling
The scaling analysis shows that the linear approximation used for the design modelling of
thermoacoustic systems functions very well. Heat losses by convection, conduction and
radiation need careful attention since these are not adequately covered by the present modelling.
In addition, more practical aspects with respect to scaling to larger powers were addressed. Most
important issues are the construction of the heat exchangers, the manufacturability of the heat
exchangers and possible more-dimensional effects.

Heat exchangers
Detailed measurements on heat exchange in oscillating flow conditions combined with
numerical simulations have led to design rules (non-dimensional correlations) for
thermoacoustic heat exchangers. These design rules relate to the length of the heat exchanger

3
and the fin spacing. The practical design of heat exchangers has to be improved to arrive at the
situation where the heat transfer is optimal, combined with low costs of manufacturing.

Resonators
Two alternatives for the standard acoustic resonator were explored in this project. The first
concept uses a traveling wave loop in combination with a multiple regenerator units. This
concept runs at a low pressure amplitude (ensuring low losses) and has an inherent proper
timing for each unit. The second concept replaces the acoustic resonator by a mechanical mass-
spring system. The mechanical mass-spring could not be tested as an integral system but the
component testing showed promising (low loss) results. The main conclusion is that the
alignment of the cylinder in the piston is a very critical issue.

Non-linear phenomena
An experiment setup was used that is capable of measuring acoustic streaming inside the
resonator. The measurement results were used to validate a Computational Fluid Dynamics
(CFD) model. The qualitative agreement was reasonable but the quantitative agreement should
be improved. CFD modeling proved to be a useful tool to study the time-independent
phenomena that occur in oscillatory flow conditions. A thorough understanding of these
phenomena is needed to identify countermeasures that stop streaming. This subject definitely
requires further research.

Integral systems
Two integral systems have successfully been designed and taken into operation. Both systems
show the required functionality. Both systems also show that the targeted performance is not
reached. They reach about 60 % of the objective. While at the component level the efficiencies
are 75 % or higher (even to 100 %) of the target, the multiplication of the efficiencies of the
individual components leads to this overall result. The requirements for the optimal
performance of the individual components do not always match with each other. For example, a
high drive ratio leads to high useful powers compared to the heat losses and thus a high
efficiency for an engine but at the same time a high drive ratio leads to high acoustic losses in
the resonator. Several improvement options have been identified which should guide the way to
a more efficient integral system.

Figure 1 Overview of experimental facilities used within THATEA

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2. Summary description of project context and objectives.

Background
As stated in the EU-policy on energy, technology is vital in reaching all of our energy and
climate change policy objectives: to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% and ensure 20%
of renewable energy sources in the EU energy mix; to reduce EU primary energy use by 20% by
2020. We need to accelerate the development and deployment of cost-effective, low carbon
technologies. We need to lower the cost of clean energy and put EU industry at the forefront of
the rapidly growing low carbon technology sector. In the long term, if we are to decarbonise our
economy, new generations of technologies have to be developed through groundbreaking
research.

The introduction of new, energy-efficient or renewable technologies is often hampered by the

cost-effectiveness of these technologies. There is no economic incentive for the energy
consumer to make use of alternative technologies that save energy or provide renewable energy.
In order to reduce the energy demand for heat, cooling, power, and lighting, or provide this in a
renewable way, a large variety of energy technologies is required. Each application is serviced
by a given technology.

It would be very helpful if a generic energy technology existed that could provide the required
energy function for different applications. This leads to an economy of scale and numbers for
this technology which would accelerate its introduction.

Thermoacoustic (TA) energy conversion is such a generic cross-cutting energy technology that
can be applied in a vast number of applications, requiring heating, cooling, or power

Technology concept
Thermoacoustic energy conversion can be used to convert heat to acoustic power (engine) and
to use acoustic power to pump heat to higher temperature levels (heat pump). Acoustic power
can also be converted with high efficiency to electricity and vice versa. Thermoacoustic energy
conversion is a rather new technology. The systems use an environmentally friendly working
medium (noble gas) in a Stirling-like cycle, and contain no moving parts. These properties will
enable new applications which are not feasible today for technical or economic reasons.
Although the dynamics and working principles of TA systems are quite complex and involve
many disciplines such as acoustics, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, heat transfer, structural
mechanics, and electrical machines, the practical implementation is relatively simple. This
offers great advantages with respect to the economic feasibility of this technology.

In principle, there is a large variety of applications possible for both TA engines and heat
pumps, and their combinations. Generally speaking, most applications which involve heating,
cooling, or electricity production can be addressed by the thermoacoustic systems. The specific
situation, however, determines whether thermoacoustic systems have advantages over
conventional systems. To be more specific, thermoacoustic systems can for example be applied
as/for
 Heat pumps for domestic applications
 Heat pumps for upgrading industrial waste heat
 Conversion of solar irradiation to electricity
 Liquefaction and regasification of natural gas.
 Combined heat and power systems
 Tri-generation systems (power, heating, cooling)
 Solar driven cooling systems
 Conversion of geothermal heat to electricity

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The working principles of thermoacoustic systems are quite complex. However, the practical
implementations of these are relatively simple. This offers great advantages with respect to the
economic feasibility of this technology. Other advantages include:
 No moving parts for the thermodynamic cycle, hence high reliability and a long life span;
 Environmentally friendly working medium (air, noble gas);
 The use of air or noble gas as a working medium offers a large temperature window because
there are no phase transitions;
 Use of simple materials with no special requirements, which are commercially available in
large quantities and therefore relatively cheap;
 Single technology can provide broad base for a large variety of applications.

Despite a significant scientific progress in developing thermoacoustic systems, the technology

has still not reached a commercial stage. However this can change rapidly since TA
technologies can offer many unique opportunities in many energy applications. This project is
the first initiative on a European level, aiming to combine the efforts in the field of
thermoacoustics in order to acquire a leadership position in this new, promising and innovative
technology.

This project is dedicated to the exploration and the study of different conversion processes
involved in TA systems and the potential they have for energy applications in the European
industry. Because of the generic character of the thermoacoustic technology, the project is
multi-disciplinary, involving many research and industrial partners from different application
fields and different countries.

Objective
The objective of this project is to advance the science and technology behind the thermoacoustic
energy conversion processes to such a level that would enable reaching conversion efficiencies
at which the application of the technology becomes economically attractive. The quantitative
objectives stated for this project are believed to ensure this.

These objectives will be achieved by carrying out the activities outlined in the proposed work
plan. Issues that will be addressed in order to achieve improvements in performance are as
follows:
 Research into the design of the acoustic network to ensure appropriate timing between
pressure variation and gas displacement. This is critical in realising the Stirling cycle and
therewith a high conversion efficiency;
 Studies into alternative regenerator materials and structures. The regenerator provides
isothermal conditions by narrow passages which also are a major source of (viscous)
dissipation. New regenerator structures such as parallel-plate or parallel-tube regenerator
instead of the screen-bed regenerator used conventionally will be investigated. Using a
regenerator with a regular structure (dimensions in the order of 100 µm) would have lower
viscous losses while still providing the necessary regenerative heat exchange;
 Investigations of heat exchangers as critical system components having to provide high heat
transfer rates within physically constricted spaces. Large temperature losses between heat
exchangers and regenerators will immediately results in lower system performance. The
heat exchangers have to be optimised for oscillating flow;
 Non-linear effects occurring in TA systems at high pressure amplitudes. There are several
types of these effects and these are yet not fully understood. Moreover, they have a negative
effect on the performance of the system. The understanding and suppression of these non-
linear effects will therefore be important in improving system performance.
 Optimisation of the geometry of the acoustic resonator. This will minimize the thermo-
viscous losses and hence result in a better performance. Alternative resonator concepts are
also feasible, for example the use of mechanical resonators or pure travelling wave
resonators.

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 Studies of integrated systems. Thermoacoustic engines and heat pumps comprise of a range
of different components. The coupling of these components resulting in an efficient system
is not trivial and systems integration issues will need to be carefully addressed.

The table below summarises the envisaged scientific and technological progress beyond the
current state-of-the-art in fulfilling the objectives of this project. For different research themes,
the present state-of-the art is given in the worldwide context. In addition, the targets for the
THATEA project are indicated. These targets not only relate to quantitative objectives but also
to a range of technical options that will be pursued in individual research areas. As can be seen
from the table, the objectives of the THATEA project are very ambitious.

Table 1 Targeted progress compared to the State-of-the-art

Issue State-of-the-art Target for
Worldwide THATEA

Regenerators Random stacking of stainless steel uniform flow channels such as

screens parallel plates or honeycombs
sections
Heat supply Electrical heaters Heat exchangers for
- Gas burner
- Low-temperature heat
Heat exchangers Shell and tube or finned tube HX’s Optimised HX’s for the
(HX) designed using steady flow oscillatory flow conditions
correlations

Resonator λ/2 and λ/4 type acoustic resonators Improved acoustic resonators
and mechanical resonators

Engine efficiency LANL (USA) 40 % of Carnot 40 % of Carnot

Heat pump PSU (USA) 19 % of Carnot 40 % of Carnot

efficiency

Integral system LANL (USA) 1.2 % of Carnot 15 % of Carnot1

for cooling purposes Nagoya (Japan) 0.7 % of Carnot
CAS (China) 2.8 % of Carnot
Integral system 40% of Carnot2
for heating purposes None existing
1
Cooler (-40ºC, 20ºC) driven by a low temperature engine (120ºC, 20ºC) gives a Carnot
efficiency for integral system of 0.98.
2
Heat pump (10ºC, 80ºC) driven by high temperature engine (600ºC, 80ºC) gives a Carnot
efficiency for integral system of 3.4.

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3. Description of the main S&T results/foregrounds

A thermoacoustic system usually comprises an engine (producing acoustic power from

heat), a heat pump (uses acoustic power to pump heat) and a resonator containing the
engine and heat pump. The core of both engine and heat pump consist of a regenerator
sandwiched between two heat exchangers. The activities in this project are divided into
6 Work packages (excluding project management). Each work package addresses a
component or phenomenon within thermoacoustic systems. Research is carried out on
thermoacoustic engines, on heat pump/refrigerators, on resonators, on thermoacoustic
heat exchangers, on regenerator material, and on non-linear phenomena occurring in
these systems. The picture below shows a schematic thermoacoustic system and (some
of) the experimental setups that have been built within this project to study components
within this system.

The following sections more or less follow the structure of the work packages. The work on the
regenerator, which took place both for engines and heat pumps is addressed separately, as is a
study on scaling of thermoacoustic systems.

3.1 Regenerator
The objective of this activity is to develop experimental facilities and experimental
methodologies for the characterization of regenerator samples with different geometries,
characteristic dimensions and made out of different materials. The results are to be expressed
using dimensionless parameters, to formulate the regenerator design rules..

An ideal regenerator has perfect thermal contact with the gas (thermal time constant = 0), has a
low pressure drop and a low axial thermal conductivity. Accordingly, three types of tests are
used to characterize regenerators: (1) thermal time constant () measurements; (2) flow
resistance measurements; and (3) thermal conductivity measurements.

Thermal time constant measurements

The setup used is shown in Figure 2. The mean pressure can be varied from 1 to 40 bar. The
working gas is helium. The excitation frequency of the acoustic driver can be varied from 20 to
120 Hz. The valves that are visible in Figure 2 are used to obtain the right phase relationship
between pressure and velocity at the regenerator.

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Figure 2 Experimental apparatus for determining the time constant of the regenerator material

Different samples of regenerator materials were tested. The commonly used woven metal
screens varied from mesh number 30 to 200 (meshes/inch). In addition, a needle array
regenerator was tested. The results clearly show that the values of  strongly depend on the
velocity, see Figure 3. A higher velocity leads to a lower  in the regenerator. It can also be
found that the length of the sample affects the measured  values. A long length leads to a
higher value of  for the same test conditions.

1.2
180#
1 200#
94 #
0.8 45 #
Needle Array
0.6


P=25 bar, f=30 Hz

0.4

0.2

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2 2.4
u1 (cold end) (m/s)

Figure 3  experimental results

Flow resistance measurements

The friction factor in the regenerator can be determined by measuring the pressure drop and the
average velocity at which the fluid is passing through the regenerator. Historical data for porous
media are available from measurements of Kays and London. Swift & Ward fitted these data
into correlations, that are often used in thermoacoustic design codes. The experimental
apparatus comprises of a 3 m long PVC pipe connected to the high pressure air supply via an
adjustable valve that controls the air flow rate, shown in Figure 4.

9
Figure 4 Schematic diagram of the flow resistance measurement rig

The obtained correlations are summarized in Table 2 and compared to Swift & Ward.
Table 2 Correlations between friction factor and Reynolds number for the regenerators tested
Regenerator Sample Measured Correlation Swift and Ward Correlation
40.2 34.2
45 # f F _ meas   0.16 fF   0.48
Re Re
38.7 34.2
180 # f F _ meas   0.37 fF   0.48
Re Re
45.1 39.7
200 # f F _ meas   0.66 fF   0.37
Re Re
54.5 38.2
94 # f F _ meas   0.2 fF   0.38
Re Re
46.8 35.4
30 # f F _ meas   0.27 fF   0.41
Re Re
14.03 16
Needle-array f F _ meas  fF 
Re Re

Thermal conductivity measurements

The thermal conductivity of the regenerator specimens is measured by passing a constant heat
flux through a known sample and an unknown sample and comparing the respective thermal
gradients, which are inversely proportional to the samples’ thermal conductivities. The setup is
shown in Figure 5

Figure 5 Illustration of the setup for thermal conductivity measurements

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For regenerator materials such as mesh screens, the thermal conduction can be represented by a
thermal conductivity degradation factor (TCDF). It is defined as the ratio of actual heat
conduction to the heat conduction where the sample is assumed to be a solid rod of the cross-
sectional area equal to the sample area multiplied by the fraction of the solid material in the
mesh screen (1-). In this report, the experimental results are expressed in terms of the TCDF.

Figure 6 shows the measured TCDF when the temperature difference between the two ends of
the sample varies. The samples are tested with a length around 6 mm. The measured TCDF
depends on the dimensions of the samples. The general trend seems to be that higher mesh
numbers lead to higher TCDF. However, there is one exception: the values for the sample with
mesh number 30 are higher than those for the sample with mesh number 45. The reason for this
behaviour is unclear.
0.140

0.120
Conductivity Degradation Factor

0.100

0.080

0.060

0.040
30#; L=6.2 mm 200#; L=6.0 mm
0.020 94#; L=5.9 mm 180#; L=6.2 mm
45 #; L=6.0 mm
0.000
0 50 100 150 200
Temperature difference (K)

Figure 6 Results of thermal conductivity measurements expressed in terms of TCDF

Conclusions
 The results clearly show that the dimensionless parameter τ strongly depends on velocity.
A higher velocity leads to a lower τ.
 For given working conditions, a lower τ corresponds to a better performance.
 The friction factor results show good agreement with Swift and Ward’s correlation (used
often in system codes) for low values of the Reynolds numbers. However, for relatively
high Reynolds numbers, there is an apparent discrepancy between the measured results and
the Swift and Ward’s correlation, which is larger when the mesh number is lower.
 For the needle array, the friction factor results agree well with the theoretical ones.
 The measured thermal conductivity degradation factor depends on the mesh number. A
higher mesh number leads to a higher thermal conductivity degradation factor.
 For all of the tested samples, the measured thermal conductivity degradation factors are less
than 0.15 as proposed by others and is widely used in for example Delta EC.
 According to the results obtained in this report, the heat conduction through the regenerator
material seems to be overestimated when using 0.15 as the higher thermal conductivity
degradation factor in Delta EC for mesh screens with lower mesh numbers.

3.2 Thermoacoustic engines

The objective of this activity is to design, build, and test two thermoacoustic engines, for two
different applications. One engine will be driven by high-temperature heat (burner, etc.), and a
second one driven by low-temperature heat (< 200°C). The goal is to demonstrate an efficiency
of 40 % of the maximal attainable Carnot efficiency for both types of engines.

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3.2.1 High-temperature engine
The high-temperature traveling-wave thermoacoustic engine uses hot air (to simulate flue gases
from a burner) as a heat source. Helium gas at an average pressure of 40 bar is used as the
working medium at an operating frequency of 120 Hz. The thermoacoustic-Stirling engine
consists mainly of three parts: a thermodynamic part consisting of a regenerator, two heat
exchangers, and a thermal buffer tube; an acoustic network consisting of an acoustic compliance
and an inertance; and a ¼-wavelength resonator with an acoustic load. A picture of the high
temperature engine is shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7 Photograph of the high temperature thermoacoustic engine

The test rig is equipped with numerous sensors to measure temperature, flow, dynamic and
static pressure. The acoustic power produced by the engine at the resonator junction is the sum
of the acoustic power dissipated in the whole resonator and that dissipated in the load. The
performance of the engine is given by the acoustic power produced by the engine divided by the
thermal power supplied by the hot air. This performance is compared to the theoretical Carnot
efficiency to obtain the relative efficiency which was defined as target for this project.

The performance of the engine as a function of the temperature of the hot air is given in Figure
8. The performance increases as function of the hot air temperature and as function of the drive
ratio. The engine achieves a performance of 41.5 % at a drive ratio of 6 % and a hot air
temperature of 620C, therewith exceeding the target for this engine. This relatively good
performance is obtained in spite of a considerable heat leakage (about 30 % of the heat input).
through the thermal buffer tube. An improvement of the performance might be expected by
suppressing this heat leak caused by streaming.

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Figure 8 Measured performance of the high-temperature engine relative to Carnot as a function
of the hot air temperature for two drive ratios

Conclusions
The high-temperature engine shows an efficiency above the target of 40% of the Carnot
efficiency. The performance increases with increasing drive ratio which require a high heat
input at the hot heat exchanger. The required heat transfer at this (gas-gas) heat exchanger puts
high requirements on the quality of this heat exchanger. The engine also suffers from relatively
large heat losses.

3.2.2 Low-temperature multi-stage engine

At declining temperatures thermoacoustic engines become increasingly more sensitive to
imperfections like heat exchanger temperature drop and to acoustic impedance matching and
dissipation. Thermoacoustic power gain is proportional with the operating temperature
consequently leading to less gain at lower temperatures. One way to overcome this problem,
and to allow for efficient operation at declining temperatures (< 200C), is to increase the
(thermo)acoustic power gain by using multiple regenerator units.

The initial low-temperature engine is build up from four identical regenerator units which are
connected acoustically in series by near traveling wave loop sections. The mutual distance
between the regenerator units is a quarter wavelength. The construction and final test set-up are
shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9 Construction and final test set-up of the low temperature engine

13
Low cost aluminum brazed louvered fin heat exchangers are used to supply and remove heat
from the thermoacoustic process in the regenerator. Instrumentation is provided to measure
regenerator and water temperatures and acoustic power at different locations along the loop.

Measurements with an unloaded engine are performed for both argon (29 Hz) and helium (90
Hz) as working gas at various mean pressures. More specific, the engine was characterized
based on starting temperatures and the increase in loop power depending on the temperature
difference across the regenerator. The result for various mean pressures is shown in Figure 10.

Argon Helium

160 350

140
300

120
250
100
Pac_loop [W]

Pac_loop [W]
1.15 MPa
200 1.1 MPa
80 2.2 MPa
2.1 MPa
3.1 MPa
60 150 3.1 MPa

40 100

20
50
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0
T water_h - T water_c [K] 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
T water_h - T water_c [K]

Figure 10 Measured loop power versus temperature difference between the high and low
temperature water circuits for both argon and helium

A very low onset temperature difference of only 22 K is obtained for argon at a mean pressure
of 3.1 MPa This is the lowest onset temperature reported so far for a thermoacoustic engine but
more important, it is an essential condition for efficient operation of the project low temperature
integral system. The onset temperature for helium is only slightly higher with 31 K because the
regenerator initially was optimized for 4 MPa and 120 Hz.

A variable acoustic load was added to be able to calculate the real engine output power. The
results for this test are summarized in Table 3.

Table 3 Measurement on the 3 stage engine loaded with cooler

Measured values Notes
P0 = 3.1 Mpa
TC_water in = 40.4 C
TH_water in = 164 C
Pac_loop = 169 W measured at input #1
Pac_out = 90.8 W power dissipated in #1 + dummy load
Qc = 888 W
EffT = 9.3% Thermal efficiency = Pac_out / ( QC + Pac_out )
Effex = 33% exergetic efficiency is relative to the Carnot factor

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Table 3 indicates that the exergetic efficiency of the low temperature engine should be further
improved up to at least 40%. There are a few options to reach this target which will be
implemented in the integral system.

Conclusions
The conclusion of the testing of the low-temperature engine shows an efficiency slightly below
the target of 40% of the Carnot efficiency. The engine suffers little from heat losses and runs at
a low drive ratio. Heat exchangers is this system are very critical since the driving temperatures
are low and temperature losses should be avoided as much as possible.

3.3 Thermoacoustic heat pumps

The objective of this work package is to design, build, and test a thermoacoustic heat pump and
a thermoacoustic refrigerator to enable two different applications. The heat pump will take heat
at 10°C and upgrade it at 80°C. The refrigerator will deliver its cooling power at –40°C. The
goal is to demonstrate an efficiency of 40 % of the Carnot efficiency for both types of
application.

3.3.1 Heat pump 10°C to 80°C

To test the heat pump separately, an experimental setup is used where a linear motor drives a
heat pump. Figure 11 shows an overview of the experimental bench. The heat pump, driven by
the linear motor (the black box) is shown separately in more detail.

Figure 11 Overview of the experimental bench

The setup is equipped with multiple pressure, temperature, and flow sensors. The performance
of the heat pump is determined by measuring the acoustic power input to the heat pump and the
thermal power input/output to/from the heat exchangers. Experiments were performed with the
water inlet of the cold heat exchanger fixed at 10°C for all the measurements. The temperature
of the water of the hot heat exchanger was varied from 60°C to 80°C. The frequency of
operation is 98 Hz which is the resonance frequency of the linear motor coupled to the heat
pump. The filling pressure is about 30 bar helium. Figure 12 shows the performance of the heat
pump as a function of drive ratio. The maximum performance reached 36 % of Carnot for a
drive ratio of 3 %.

15
Figure 12 Measured COP relative to Carnot as function of the drive ratio for three different hot
temperatures. The cold temperature is fixed at 10°C

The experimental data are analysed and compared to the DeltaEC model. The measured and
calculated acoustic power and output heat are shown in Figure 13. The measured heat is in good
agreement with that calculated by the model. However, the measured acoustic power is slightly
higher than the calculated values. This additional acoustic power used by the heat pump could
be due to losses in the thermal buffer tube which are not well modelled. This argument is also
supported by the fact that the use of flow straighteners in the thermal buffer tube has improved
the performance of the heat pump.

Figure 13 Acoustic power at the pistons (left) and heat output at hot heat exchanger (right)for
several drive ratios. The calculated quantities are plotted with a solid line

Although the targeted efficiency of 40 % of Carnot was not reached in the heat pump, the
performance came with 36 % close to this target. In order to improve the performance for the
heat pump, the following modifications are recommended:
 Redesign the feedback inertance to provide a more optimal (about zero at the centre of the
regenerator) phase difference between pressure and volume velocity.
 Engineer a more gradual branch between the feedback inertance and the thermodynamic
section (the current design has a T-branch)

3.3.2 Refrigerator
The refrigerator was driven by a thermoacoustic prime mover. The experiments were carried out
with a maximum helium gas pressure of about 38 bars. The refrigerator and the prime mover
operated at about 123 Hz. Figure 14 pictures the refrigerator in testing operation without
thermal insulation.

16
Instrumentation was set up within the heat exchangers to assess the thermal fluxes and evaluate
the efficiency of the refrigerator. Several thermocouples are used to measure the temperature on
the wall of the refrigerator components. The acoustic field inside of refrigerator is evaluated by
use of four dynamic pressure sensors.

Figure 14 Overview of the refrigerator driven by the thermoacoustic prime mover

The original design was modified with different designs of the thermal buffer tube to reduce
thermal convection caused by acoustic streaming. Figure 15 exhibits the measured coefficient of
performance of the refrigerator relative to Carnot’s performance as a function of the cold power
and for three buffers. The aftercooler temperature (hot temperature) was fixed at 20 ºC by use of
circulating water; the cold temperature was fixed at -40°C adjusting the electrical power of the
heater.

Figure 15 COPR as a function of cold power for a cold heat exchanger temperature of 233K

Besides efficiency the cooling power is also an important parameter. This cooling power can be
influenced by modifying the feedback inertance. Inserts were placed inside the feedback
inertance to assess the changes of the operating points of the refrigerator. Figure 16 shows the
changes of the cooling power induced by the three inserts and the corresponding COPR. This
shows that more cooling power can be obtained at the expense of a lower efficiency.
.

17
Figure 16 Evolution of Qcold and COPR as a function of the inductance insert diameter for a
cold heat exchanger temperature of 233K

Conclusions
The refrigerator showed a maximum performance of 33 % of Carnot. Careful design of the
buffer tube and the feedback inertance are necessary to achieve high efficiencies.

3.4 Scaling
Two types of scaling analysis have been carried out. The first study verifies experimentally the
non-dimensional scaling rules for thermoacoustic systems. The second study looks at the
practical aspects when scaling up thermoacoustic systems.

Non-dimensional scaling rules

The high-temperature traveling-wave thermoacoustic engine is used to verify the scaling rules
for thermoacoustic systems. The scaling rule applied is the so-called pressure-gas scaling in
which a low pressure, heavy gas system is compared to a high pressure, light gas system. In this
case a 15 bar argon system is compared to a 40 bar helium system. The scaling rules dictate
that these systems are acoustically identical but have a power ratio of 9 (He/Ar)

Figure 17 shows the results of the experiments. The powers and efficiency are plotted as
function of the temperature of the hot air. The heat leak through the regenerator (static
measurements) is subtracted from the experimental results as it doesn’t follow the scaling rules.
Figure 17 shows that the powers for the helium system are about a factor 9 larger than the
thermal power in the argon system and that the efficiencies are comparable for both systems.
This is in excellent agreement with the theory. This results indicate that the scaling rules works
and that they can be used for the scaling up of thermoacoustic systems.

18
 400 150
He
Ar

300
100

W[watt]
Qc[watt]

200

50
100

0 0
450 500 550 600 650 700 450 500 550 600 650 700
0,4 0,6

0,5
0,3
0,4

0,2 0,3

r


0,2
0,1
0,1

0,0 0,0
450 500 550 600 650 700 450 500 550 600 650
Th[K] Th[K]

Figure 17 Corrected measured thermal power at the ambient side for the torus engine filled
with 15 bar Argon and with 40 bar Helium at a drive ratio of 3.5 %

The scaling analysis shows that the linear approximation used for the design modelling of
thermoacoustic systems functions very well. Heat losses by convection, conduction and
radiation need careful attention since these are not adequately covered by the present modelling.

Practical aspects
A scaling study has been performed to analyse the consequences of increasing the power of
thermoacoustic systems on efficiency, manufacturability, and possible new phenomena. The
drive ratio, frequency, mean pressure and the diameter of the system are used as independent
parameters to increase the power of the system.

The effect on efficiency has been studied by evaluating the thermal losses from the system in
comparison with the useful acoustic power. All analyses show that the ratio between thermal
losses and acoustic power decreases with increasing acoustic power. This can easily be
understood since the acoustic power scales with the square of the diameter while the thermal
losses scale linearly. High frequency would also be beneficial since this leads to compact
systems with small surface areas. However, too high frequencies will lead to manufacturing
problems with the heat exchangers.

With increasing power levels, the diameter of the resonator will increase, giving a certain
frequency. The leads to heavier systems. This can be compensated by a higher frequency, but
this will lead to problems with the heat exchangers, as explained above.

Heat exchangers are a crucial component in a thermoacoustic system. The length is determined
by the frequency and drive ratio. The higher the drive ratio, the longer the heat exchanger. The
higher the frequency, the shorter the heat exchanger. A low frequency and a high drive ratio
enable a long heat exchanger, therewith increasing the surface area for heat transfer.

19
As the power increases, it becomes more difficult to realise the feedback loop, due to the limited
bend radius that can be realised, giving a pipe diameter. A lower frequency is helpful in
increasing the length of the feedback loop, making is easier to produce. Another option would
be to create multiple smaller parallel feedback loops.

There are a couple of phenomena that could occur at large scale systems. Thermoacoustic
systems are designed as one-dimensional systems. This means that the diameter should be small
compared to the wavelength. The requirement should be carefully checked when the diameter is
increased for a larger power system. Secondly, streaming within a regenerator could occur at
larger diameters and lead to lower efficiencies. A third phenomenon is natural convection. This
hardly occurs at small-scale systems but will have an increasing influence at larger diameters.
Design measures should be taken to account for this.

3.5 Heat exchangers

The overall objective of this work package is to develop the understanding of heat transfer
under oscillatory flow conditions by modelling and experiments and to use this knowledge to
optimise heat exchangers for thermoacoustic systems. The research effort is focused on three
main areas of activities: fundamental research into the heat transfer mechanisms within heat
exchangers, developing Computational Fluid Dynamics modelling capabilities based on
fundamental findings, and the design work for practical heat exchangers that are optimised for
performance and are economically affordable.

3.5.1 Experimental research

Two types of experimental studies are carried out: investigation of thermal-fluid processes
within heat exchangers on the micro-scale of an individual channel (local/time resolved), and
heat transfer performance measurements in macro-scale arrangements to obtain “lumped”
quantities.

Study of heat exchangers in micro-scale

Fin-type heat exchangers are chosen in this study of heat transfer process. The flow and
temperature fields are measured, by employing Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and Planar
Laser Induced Fluorescence (PLIF), in a channel between fins of “hot” and “cold” heat
exchangers and in the vicinity of the two heat exchangers. The oscillatory flow is induced by an
acoustic wave (13.1 Hz), maintained by a subwoofer type loudspeaker in a resonator. A
schematic drawing of the flow rig and a close-up view of the test section with the LIF system
setup are shown in Figure 18.

Figure 18 Schematic of the experimental setup (a) and a close-up view of the test section (b)

Two pairs of large-scale hot and cold heat exchangers have been fabricated. Figure 19 shows
sample velocity fields in the channel of the first set of heat exchangers at four selected phases, at
the velocity amplitude 1.3m/s and the temperature difference 0°C. Such data were mainly used
to validate the CFD results for the heat exchanger channel.

20
Figure 19 (a) Relative phasing between pressure, velocity and displacement (in this example:
displacement amplitude is 16 mm). (b) Sample velocity fields obtained at velocity
amplitude 1.3 m/s and temperature difference of 0°C

Figure 20 (a) Temperature fields for six selected phases at the velocity amplitude of 1.30 m/s.
Red and blue rectangles mark the heated and cooled fins, respectively. The black
dashed lines mark the position where three views (left, central and right) are joined,
(b) Normalized local temperature distributions at two positions 1 mm away from the
“joint” between the hot and cold fin

The temperature profiles such as these presented in Figure 20b allow the calculation of the local,
phase-dependent heat fluxes on the fin surface. This local, phase-dependent heat fluxes can be
integrated over time and space to get the space-cycle averaged heat flux. Figure 21a shows this
heat flux q, measured on the first heat exchanger set when the temperature difference is 170°C
at different Reynolds numbers.

The same procedure can be applied to obtain the dimensionless heat transfer number (Nu),
starting from a local phase-dependent Nusselt number and then integrating this over time and
space. Figure 21b shows the space-cycle averaged Nu, measured on the first heat exchanger set,
for 170°C temperature difference.

21
Figure 21 The dependence of space-cycle averaged heat flux (a) and Nusselt number (b) on Red
for the first HX set

Study of heat exchangers in macro-scale

The idea behind the macro-scale research is to study the influence of the heat exchanger type
and dimensions on the heat transfer performance in terms of the heat transfer rate per unit of
heat transfer area (the heat transfer coefficient) on the gas side that is exposed to the oscillatory
flow. The fin-and-tube type heat exchanger is chosen for this study for its similarity to the
configuration of parallel plate/fins in the micro-scale study.

The rig for oscillatory flow measurements is designed as a standing wave arrangement to ensure
a large range of displacement amplitudes for the heat transfer studies (Figure 22). The resonator
is filled with helium at room temperature and a mean pressure up to 40bar. The operating
frequency is 56 Hz, the fundamental resonance frequency of the rig. The heat exchangers are
placed next to each other. In each of the three cross sections (both sides of the heat exchanger
pair, and in between the two heat exchangers, Figure 22), three thermocouples (evenly
distributed in the radial direction) are installed to measure the gas temperature. Thermocouples
are also installed to measure the water temperature at inlet and outlet of both heat exchangers
installed. The volume flow rates of water through both heat exchangers are also measured.

Figure 22 Heat exchangers A, B, C (left); drawing of the high pressure helium rig and a cut-
away view of the test section (right)

Three fin-and-tube heat exchangers have been designed and constructed with three different fin
spacings (0.7, 1.4, and 2.1 mm). The idea behind choosing only three geometrical
configurations is that many more experimental cases can be obtained by tuning the mean
pressure to obtain different ratios of fin spacing to thermal penetration depth. During the
measurement, two out of three heat exchangers are placed in the test section. One heat
exchanger is heated by the hot water flow while the other is cooled by the cold water flow. The
temperatures of the hot and cold water baths are maintained at around 80°C and 30°C,
respectively. The temperature difference between the hot and cold heat exchangers and the
ambient is kept low to reduce the heat leakage that may distort the heat transfer measurements.

22
The measured heat transfer coefficients, represented by the Nusselt number are plotted against
the acoustic Reynolds number for all three tested heat exchangers. Some of the macro-scale
tests have been repeated in the improved condition and data are being further analysed. Figure
23 shows some sample data obtained in the macro-scale experiments.
1.8
70.0
1.6
60.0
1.4
50.0 1.2

40.0 1.0

Nu
Nu

0.8
30.0
0.6
20.0 fin pitch 0.7 mm_1
fin pitch 0.7 mm_1 0.4
fin pitch 0.7 mm_2 fin pitch 0.7 mm_2
10.0 fin pitch 1.4 mm 0.2 fin pitch 1.4 mm
fin pitch 2.1 mm fin pitch 2.1 mm
0.0 0.0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Re Re

100
fin pitch 2.1 mm
fin pitch 1.4 mm
fin pitch 0.7 mm_1
fin pitch 0.7 mm_2
K

10

1
1000 10000 100000
Re
Figure 23 (a) Heat transfer performance on the air side in steady flow test; (b) Heat transfer
performance on the water side in steady flow test; (c) Flow resistance on the air side
in steady flow test. Data to be further used in the analysis of the data from the
oscillatory flow tests

3.5.2 CFD modelling

This task addresses the need to develop a numerical scheme for the predictions of the heat
exchanger performance in oscillatory flow conditions and to validate the CFD model based on
the experimental results collected. CFD modelling and thermoacoustic modelling is divided into
a detailed micro-scale and macro-scale modelling of the heat exchanger. The two modelling
approaches enable a study of local and time resolved (micro-scale) as well as global (macro-
scale) heat transfer characteristics of heat exchangers and generation of appropriate result
databases. The results obtained from detailed CFD simulations, in conjunction with the
experimental work carried out, will be used to derive suitable correlations.

Modelling of heat exchangers in micro-scale

The modelling of heat exchangers in micro-scale focuses on a single “periodic segment” (fin
and surrounding flow channel in the heat exchanger) by solving the Navier-Stokes equation and
energy equation, to simulate the transient fluid flow and heat transfer between the gas and the
solid (fins) with high temporal resolution. The velocity and temperature data obtained is further
used to derive quantities such as the heat flux and Nusselt number. Commercial software
ANSYS Fluent-6.3 is used for simulation.

23
A sample result is presented for six chosen phases in Figure 24. The temperature and velocity
fields from experiments (upper plots) are compared to the simulation results (lower plots).

Figure 24 Temperature (a) and velocity (b) fields from experiment (upper plots) and simulation
(lower plots) at Reynolds number of 250 (velocity amplitude 1.30 m/s)

The heat flux at the wall is calculated for every phase and every location. Then, the local phase-
dependent heat flux is used to further calculate the local phase-dependent heat transfer
coefficient and the local phase-dependent Nusselt number. The phase-dependent temperature at
the centre of the channel at the “joint” section is taken as Tref. A space-cycle averaged Nusselt
number is obtained by averaging the local phase-dependent Nusselt number over time and
space.

Several important findings can be summarized as follows: (i) A good agreement of the velocity
field was found between the simulation and experiments at both acoustic oscillation amplitudes;
(ii) The temperature fields from both the simulation and experiments match in trend, but there is
a mismatch in values. This is considered mainly due to the heat accumulation in the
experimental setup.

Modelling of heat exchangers in macro-scale

This deals with macro-scale modelling of the heat exchanger thermal performance. It employs
an energy-balance model, instead of solving the Navier-Stokes and energy equations used in the
“micro-scale” approach. Integration of momentum, continuity and energy equations in each sub-
system segment is executed through standard numerical techniques with pressures and
volumetric velocities matched at the junctions between segments. The model enables estimation
of the dependence of the heat transfer rates on quantities such as heat exchanger fin length and

24
fin spacing in relation to the operating acoustic frequency, drive ratio and mean pressure. The
code developed provides an interface for CFD studies of the whole thermoacoustic systems, in
particular components such as the regenerator and resonator.

Figure 25 illustrates an example of the time-averaged temperature field in the computation

domain when the Reynolds number is 304, and the corresponding transverse heat flux density.
The heat flux exhibits a sharp peak near the fin ends indicating that a net heat exchange between
fluid and solid takes place in these regions. In particular, the maximum value is reached when
the fin edges are approached. From the calculated time averaged temperature distribution, the
heat loads on the cold and hot heat exchangers as well as the time averaged Nusselt numbers
have been deduced for Reynolds number (Re) ranging from 100 to 800, see Figure 26. The
effects of important design parameters, such as fin length along the particle acoustic oscillation
and the fin spacing (Figure 27), on the heat transfer performance of the heat exchangers are then
investigated. Figure 28 shows the mean heat flux per surface area along the length of the heat
exchanger-stack assembly.

Figure 25 Time-averaged temperature distribution (left) and transverse heat flux density
(right). Re=304

Figure 26 Dependence of space-cycle averaged heat flux, Nusselt number on Re for the 1st set
of heat exchangers

Figure 27 The cooling load as a function of the length (left) and fin spacing (right) of heat
exchangers

25
Figure 28 The mean heat flux per unit surface area exchanged by the cold fin with the
gas at selected drive ratios

The following conclusions were drawn:

 The magnitude of the heat transfer coefficient from the secondary fluid-side (U) should
be fully taken into account because it affects cooling load through its influence on the
temperature distribution across the stack. High U values are desirable to improve the
performance of the device.
 Fin length along the axial direction of particle oscillation can be chosen considerably
lower than the peak-to-peak displacement amplitude without compromising the heat
exchanger performance and with great benefits in terms of viscous losses reduction.
 Thermal losses (reverse heat fluxes) localized at the stack-heat exchanger junctions
degrade the HXs performance reducing the useful cooling load. These effects could
account for about 7% of the deviations found between predictions of the linear theory
and experimental measurements. Suitable choices of the fin spacing and fin length can
contribute to minimize this detriment effects enhancing the effectiveness of the heat
exchangers.
 Optimum fin/plate interspacing should fall in the range 22y04. Selection of the
best value is case dependent and should also take into account the simultaneous effect of
blockage ratio, fin length and fin thickness.
 Heat transfer coefficients from the gas-side can be predicted with a confidence of about
41% at moderate acoustic Reynolds numbers.

Non-dimensional correlations of heat transfer processes in oscillatory flows

The non-dimensional analysis of heat transfer from the parallel-plate heat exchanger to the
oscillatory flow has been carried out. Nusselt number as a function of a group of non-
dimensional parameters has been studied. Sample data are presented in Figure 29.

26
 4.00 4.00
2dk/D = 0.61 2dk/D = 0.61
3.50 2dk/D = 1.31 3.50 2dk/D = 1.31
2dk/D = 2.62 2dk/D = 0.63
3.00 2dk/D = 0.63 3.00
2dk/D = 1.31(2) 2dk/D = 1.31(2)
2.50 2dk/D = 1.28 2.50 2dk/D = 1.28
Nu

Nu
2.00 2.00
1.50 1.50
1.00 1.00
0.50 0.50
0.00 0.00
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0
2x/l 2x/l

(a) (b)
Figure 29 (a) The dependence of Nusselt number on 2δκ/D, l/ξa (macro-scale CFD model); (b)
The dependence of Nusselt number on 2δκ/D, l/ξa (micro-scale CFD model)

The results from macro- and micro- scale CFD models are in good agreement. Both suggest that
the heat transfer performance is better when 2δκ/D has a value around 0.6, within the range used
in the study. Nevertheless, the result also suggests that the Nusselt number almost linearly
increases with 2ξa/l. In comparison, the cooling load will not further increase with 2ξa/l when
2ξa/l is more than 1.

Macro-EXP _ HX (A) Macro-EXP _ HX (A)

1.80 1.80
2dk/D = 0.78
1.60 1.60 2dk/D = 0.62
2dk/D = 0.58
1.40 1.40 2dk/D = 0.55
1.20 1.20
1.00 1.00
Nu
Nu

0.80 0.80
0.60 0.60
0.40 0.40
2dk/D = 0.52
0.20 0.20
2dk/D = 0.36
0.00 0.00
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0
2x/l 2x/l

Figure 30 The dependence of Nusselt number on 2δκ/D, l/ξa (old macro-scale experiment)

The experiment suggests that the heat transfer performance is better when 2δκ/D has a value
around 0.36, lower than what is suggested by simulation. Furthermore the Nusselt number does
not increase further with 2ξa/l, when it is over 2.0. The conflict between the experiment and
simulation needs further investigation.

3.5.3 Design of practical heat exchangers

This task focuses on two aspects of the overall project. Firstly, it will be necessary to propose
the optimal parameters for the heat exchangers used. Secondly, given the ultimate aim of the
project which relates to the application of the “emerging technology” in a wider market context,
it is necessary to make a detailed analysis of the available fabrication techniques for
thermoacoustic heat exchangers, and to develop costing guidelines for various heat exchanger
implementations, and to provide detailed recommendations for future technological approaches
to heat exchanger manufacturing..

Several practical heat exchangers have been built in the framework of the THATEA project,
each kind of device was made in a very low number of units. The efficiency criterion led to use
validated technologies without optimizing the device cost (except in the case of low temperature

27
engine). Hence, the unit production and the use of special technologies induced very large costs
for the heat exchangers building. For an intermediate production volume (1000 units), the
manufacturing cost may be reduced by an important factor, but it is not possible to extrapolate
the cost for a mass production: in the latter case, cheaper mass production methods would be
used and one could thus expect costs reduction. Many ways of machining could be explored as:
- the Electric Discharge Machining (EDM) work is the most difficult part of the production
but it could be automated. However, other cheaper means to make the heat exchanger can
be thought of like chemical etching;
- the tooling has an important impact on a unit fabrication cost but it will be negligible for
mass production.

To define some recommendations concerning the technological approaches and the

industrialization of the heat exchangers used for the thermoacoustic applications, the heat
exchangers build for the THATEA project were evaluated by means of the following criteria:
fabrication price, thermal transfer efficiency, pressure drop. The criteria values obtained with
THATEA heat exchangers are given in Table 4.

Table 4 Characteristics of THATEA heat exchangers

Technology Heat transfer coefficient Heat transfer coefficient Pressure drop Price
kind (fluid side) (thermoacoustic side) (fluid side)
Tube-Fin 28 W/K 40 W/K 1 300 Pa 210 €
Tube-Shell 80 W/K 210 W/K 40 000 Pa 4 900 €
Fin-Fin 43 W/K 100 W/K 1 400 Pa 5 000 €
Tube-Fin 100 W/K 250 W/K 5 000 Pa 5 300 €
Tube-Shell 130 W/K 280 W/K 25 000 Pa 5 500 €
Fin-Fin * 14 W/K 275 W/K 2 000 Pa 15 000 €
* This heat exchanger operates at high temperature T > 600 °C.

One partner has used an industrial technology (similar to car air condensers) leading to a poor
heat transfer efficiency in a thermoacoustic configuration but yielding the lowest construction
cost of the project. The technologies applied for the other heat exchangers involve a cost on
average twenty times higher. These prices are not representative of an industrial production
because only one or two heat exchangers of each kind have been built. For the THATEA
project, the thermal performance criterion is privileged; this choice involves the development of
new devices and raises the fabrication price.

The adaptation of an existent industrial device seems a good way to reduce the manufacturing
cost and allow for a mass production, but the geometrical constraints reduce the kinds of
technology usable in the thermoacoustic applications. For example, the thermal transfer
performances of tube-fin heat exchangers used in the low temperature engine are not enough to
obtain a good energetic efficiency of those thermoacoustic machines.

Compact heat exchangers are widely used in the refrigeration industry where they are produced
massively and their performances thus well known. These configurations have a very high
surface area density per unit volume with small hydraulic diameter and these characteristics
seem to fit well the acoustics constraints. The supplementary motivation for using compact heat
exchanger is to gain specified heat exchanger performance, within admissibility mass and
volume constraints.

In several recovery energy applications and particularly for the embarked applications, the mass
of the machine is an important parameter and the use of material having weak densities (like
Aluminum…) should be privileged. Moreover, the efficiency of machines is improved when the
mass is reduced.

28
For the high temperature applications, the environment constraints are severe. The technology
and the material used (refractory steel, Ni alloys) are expensive. The reduction of cost
production will be more limited in comparison with the ambient temperature applications.

3.6 Resonators
In a thermoacoustic system the function of the resonator is to determine the operating
frequency, to store the acoustic energy to be amplified by the thermoacoustic engine and to
transfer the output power of this engine to the acoustic load which could be either a heat pump
or cooler as well as an alternator. Acoustic losses in the resonator can seriously affect system
performance in particular at medium and low operating temperatures. Two different options
were pursued with the aim to reduce the resonator losses compared to the useful acoustic power.

3.6.1 Traveling wave resonator

An analysis is performed of acoustic loss in all possible implementations of acoustic resonance
and feedback circuits like ½  and ¼  standing wave, traveling wave and hybrid
configurations. Calculated values are compared with experimental data from literature. For
some new configuration for which no data was available experiments are performed to validate
the calculation results.

Coupling efficiency is defined as the ratio between power available at the load and the
(equivalent) source power. This coupling efficiency is calculated and ranked for all
configurations emanating from operating conditions for engine and heat pump or cooler as
agreed in work package 6.

In this analysis it is found that, for the same operating conditions of engine and heat pump,
acoustic losses in a mechanical resonator and in a traveling wave feedback loop are significant
lower as compared with the commonly used standing wave type resonator with a torus or bypass
type engine or heat pump. The mechanical resonator is studied in task 4.2. The traveling wave
feedback loop is further investigated within this task. A small scale experiment at atmospheric
pressure with a 4-stage thermoacoustic engine utilizing the traveling wave feedback circuitry is
given in Figure 31.

Figure 31 Small scale experiment of travelling wave feedback in a four stage thermoacoustic
engine

The experiment validated the traveling wave approach by showing indeed a very low onset
temperature and a steep increase of acoustic loop power with temperature difference applied. In
addition to the low loss the internal gas volume is found to be more than a factor of five less
than the internal volume of the standing wave version for the same operating conditions
yielding a more compact system. This is particularly important for low temperature systems. In
addition, the combined loss analysis of continuous and oscillatory flow performed in this task

29
has yield a better understanding of the impact of wall roughness. This roughness is of minor
importance for the losses of the configuration presented here.

3.6.2 Mechanical resonator.

A mechanical resonator is one of the options to reduce resonator losses and to realise more
compact systems. The mechanical resonator was studied in two ways. An inventory was made
of possible concepts and experimental work was carried out on a mass-spring system.

Inventory
In addition to the experimental work an inventory was made of acousto-mechanic resonators
configurations. There are roughly two different approaches : the first one is using bellows as
oscillating device, the second one uses springs as oscillating device. Three designs for acousto-
mechanic resonators are shown below in Figure 32.

Figure 32 Spring axial resonator (left) ; spring non-axial resonator with a connecting rod
transmission (middle), spring non-axial resonator with a fluid transmission (right)

In the three cases, the oscillating device is realized with a spring linked with a piston or
membrane. The mechanical resonance frequency and the mechanical impedance at the two
membranes must match respectively the acoustical frequency and the acoustical engine
impedance. In the left design, the piston motions are in phase, leading to external vibrations. In
order to avoid these vibrations, the motions of the two devices presented in the middle and right
design are opposite in phase. The motion transmission is realized on the left by a connecting rod
and on the right by an incompressible fluid. For the right design, some calculations were carried
out to estimate the viscous losses in the fluid. These losses seem to be minor.

Experiments
In the scope of this task a compact mechanical resonator (mass-spring) is designed and build.
This mechanical resonator should be tested using an existing thermoacoustic Stirling engine. A
twin mass-spring system is chosen to minimize vibrations. An illustration of the mechanical
resonator attached to the thermoacoustic engine is shown in Figure 33.

Figure 33 Picture of the mechanical resonator attached to the thermoacoustic engine

30
Unfortunately, the mechanical resonator did not start when coupled to the thermoacoustic
engine. The system has too much damping. Possible causes were identified as (1) damping in
the spring plates, (2) losses the seal gap, (3) rubbing of the displacement sensors, or (4) a slight
unbalance between both resonator halves.

The damping in the spring plates was checked independently by use of a mechanical shaker.
These measurements show a very low damping of the springs. The diameter of the
displacements sensors was reduced to prevent rubbing. Next, the damping by the seal gap is
tested by illustrated in Figure 34.

Figure 34 Set up used to determine the damping of the seal gap. The twin mass-spring systems
will be tested separately

Figure 35 shows the resonance peak of the mass-spring system. The points are measurements
data and the solid line is a fit to the data. The fit gives a value for the mechanical resistance of
2.55 N.s/m, which is a very low value.

2,5
NewFunction2 (
Model User)
y = A/sqrt((x^2-
Equation w^2)^2+(2*B*x)
^2)
Reduced 0,00336
2,0 Chi-Sqr
Adj. R-Square 0,99379
Value Standard Error
disppeak A 5484,46061 96,66781
disppeak B 2,71409 0,0679
disppeak w 462,4529 0,05951
1,5
Disp [mm]

R=2mB=2.55
1,0

0,5

0,0
350 400 450 500 550
w [rd/s]

Figure 35 Displacement of the piston as function of the angular frequency of the driving shaker
(resonance peak). The points are measurements data and the solid is a fit
expression

Finally, an alignment of both piston-cylinders is achieved simultaneously. A loudspeaker is

used to drive the mechanical resonator. The loudspeaker is connected to the mechanical
resonator via the port made for the connection of the TA-engine. Figure 36 shows a picture of
the system.

31
Figure 36 Picture of the mechanical resonator driven by a loudspeaker.

The damping for each mass-spring part of the twin mass-spring forming the mechanical
resonator is determined by measuring the displacement of the pistons as discussed in the
previous sections. The difference with the experiments done so far is that now the two mass-
spring systems are coupled. The experiments are done at atmospheric pressure. Figure 37 shows
the resonance peak of the mass-spring M1 coupled to mass-spring M2. The deduced mechanical
resistance is 2.93 N/m.s which is a little bit higher than the resistance measured when M1 was
not coupled to M2. This is believed to be due to the alignment of the piston in the cylinder.
1.0
Model NewFunction (U
ser) Mass-spring M1-coupled to M2
Equation y = A/sqrt((x^2-
w^2)^2+(2*B*x)
^2)
Reduced Chi-S 7.65248E-4
qr
0.8 Adj. R-Square 0.98965
Value Standard Error
Dispmm A 2547.33207 67.67568
Dispmm w 461.3969 0.09344
Dispmm B 3.12153 0.11484

0.6
Disp [mm]

R = 2mB = 2.93

0.4

0.2

0.0
400 450 500
w [rd/s]
Figure 37 Displacement of the mass-spring M1 coupled to mass-spring M2 as function of the
angular frequency of the driving loudspeaker (resonance peak). The points are
measurements data and the solid line is a fit expression (11) to the data the data
which gives the mechanical resistance of the system.

Conclusions
 A study has been performed on different mechanical resonator concepts that look very
promising.
 A mechanical resonator is designed and built but could not be tested coupled with a
thermoacoustic engine. Separate tests concluded that the misalignment of the pistons in the
cylinders is the most probable cause for this. The mechanical parameters deduced from the
experiments do not differ much from those used in the design of the system. The alignment
of the cylinder in the piston is a very critical issue considering the small clearance seal of 15
m. An exploration of other ways for alignment is recommended for the further study of the
feasibility of a mechanical resonator to replace an acoustic one.

32
3.7 Non-linear phenomena
The objective of this work package is to develop the fundamental understanding of the non-
linear effects of streaming flows in thermal buffer tubes, through carefully designed
experimentation; and accompany this with CFD modelling capabilities to capture the physics of
streaming flows when the thermal effects are very important and to validate the models against
the experimental data.

3.7.1 Experimental research

The experimental setup is built from an acoustic source and a resonator + PIV cell, see Figure
38.

Figure 38 PIV visualization cell, camera and laser mounted on a tripod. Right: zoom on the
visualization cell

Several transducers were distributed at different locations along the resonator in order to
provide pressure field data for the numerical simulations. All the signals are recorded and
processed with a sampling rate of 16 kHz. The velocity measurement is achieved thanks to the
PIV method. This technique relies on a laser sheet light illuminating particles injected into the
resonator. Knowing there displacements from a recorded picture to another, the spatial velocity
field in the resonator is therefore known. The piston displacement and the operating frequency
of the driver (shaker) can be adjusted. Drive ratio values between 3% and 6% were achieved at a
resonance frequency of 25 Hz under atmospheric air pressure.

Table 5 summarises the experiments conditions performed with the shaker. The varying
parameter is the piston stroke which modifies the pressure amplitude and thus the drive ratio.

Table 5 Experimentations conditions

Test T1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4
P1 (mbar) 34 42 49 56
P1/Pm (%) 3,3 4,2 4,8 5,5
Piston stroke (mm) 7,07 8,48 9,90 11,3
With P1: acoustic pressure

The following figure (Figure 39) presents the streaming velocity profiles for different drive
ratios. Two conclusions can be drawn: the acoustic streaming amplitude increases with the drive
ratio and one Rayleigh cell is present.

33
Figure 39 Streaming velocity for different drive ratios

Experiments with thermal gradient were carried out adding two heat exchangers (based on tube-
and-shell technology) on either side of the PIV module. The heat exchangers were designed at
FEMTO-ST. Figure 40 presents the streaming velocity profiles for three different drive ratios
and a temperature gradient of 86°C/m. The phenomenon of natural convection appears to
prevail on the streaming effect.

60

50

40
y (mm)

30

20

10

0
-0.03 -0.02 -0.01 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06
Velocity (m/s)

Figure 40 Streaming velocity profiles with air and for different drive ratios, ×: 1,4%, : 1,8%,
: 3,3%. The heat exchangers are shown to the left

Conclusions
One of the first objectives of this work package was to design an experiment capable of
measuring acoustic streaming inside the resonator.. The experimental apparatus proved to be
efficient and consequently the measurement method was validated against numerical study. The
experimental set-up was later equipped with two heat exchangers, in order to set the temperature
gradient and to reach the conditions found in thermoacoustic systems. This situation requires
further study as the desired conditions cannot be reached in the present setup.

3.7.2 CFD model research

The experimental results were used to validate CFD for modeling of streaming phenomena. The
comparison showed a good qualitative agreement but less agreement quantitatively. Since the

34
trends were predicted correctly, CFD was applied to a real system to address the streaming
phenomena that occur in those systems. This would provide insight in the time-averaged
processes that take place.

A realistic geometry of an engine consisting of a toroidal tube and a resonator is considered.

The torus contains the actual engine part, it consist of are the cold and the hot heat exchangers,
and regenerator included between them. The ambient heat exchanger is situated below engine
part in the thermal buffer zone, which connects toroidal engine parts via a T-junction with the
rest of the system. In every fluid flow oscillation, the flow passes through these regions and it is
heated via the gradient of temperature imposed in the regenerator.

Figure 41 Toroidal engine with resonator

Helium gas at operational pressure of Pm = 40 bars is used in the setup. The temperatures of heat
exchangers were set to 300 and 600 K respectively.

In the experimental devices a flexible membrane is installed in the torus to prevent Gedeon-type
streaming (also called “dc flow”). It is quite challenging to simulate such a membrane with
CFD, therefore we choose another approach to suppress the dc flow. The resistance in the
regenerator region was altered depending on the flow direction, i.e. the downward flow
experienced higher resistance than upward. The ratio between the two was adjusted manually to
reach zero streaming velocity in the engine

Here, we concentrate on the secondary flow within the thermal buffer tube. In the absence of
Gedeon-type streaming, the flow is driven by boundary-layer effects and usually referred as
Rayleigh streaming. Two vertical and two horizontal planes were chosen for analysis. The
results are shown in Figure 42. The figure shows a clear circulating flow pattern within the
thermal buffer tube. This pattern seems to be driven by the flow splitting a the T-branch. The
circulation does not reach the upper heat exchanger, so the convective heat loss from this heat
exchanger due to the circulation is limited.

35
Figure 42 Streaming patterns in the thermal buffer

Conclusions
The data has been used to validate CFD modeling. The qualitative agreement was reasonable
but the quantitative agreement should be improved. CFD modeling proved to be a useful tool to
study the time-independent phenomena that occur in oscillatory flow conditions. A thorough
understanding of these phenomena is needed to identify countermeasures that stop streaming.
This subject definitely requires further research.

3.7.3 Streaming reduction measures

A theoretical study was carried out to identify measures to suppress streaming. The phenomena
of streaming are many, depending on the geometry of the system, the operating conditions and
the thermal levels. To talk about ways to reduce the flow amounts to make a case-by-case study
requiring different but always complex experimental bench for validation. Thanks to studies on

36
experimental facilities and numerical analysis of phenomena, it is known that the methods used
at present for the reduction of "streaming" are:
- Use of a working fluid with low Prandtl number
- Balance the pressure gradient created by the use of conical tubes (Rayleigh streaming)
- Insert elements to rectify the flow
- Introduction of a flexible membrane in the acoustic circuit (streaming of Gedeon)
- Introduction of devices that generate a pressure gradient opposite to the streaming ("jet
pump" (streaming of Gedeon)
- Active control of acoustic flow

3.8 Integral systems

Objective of this work package is to demonstrate two integral systems, composed of a TA
engine coupled to a TA heat pump. These two different integral systems will represent two
different (industrial) applications.

3.8.1 High-temperature integral system

This activity concerns the coupling of the high temperature thermoacoustic engine to a high
temperature thermoacoustic heat pump operating between 10C and 60C or 80C. The heat
pump is designed, built, attached to the engine, and the integral system is tested. A CAD-
drawing and a picture of the heat pump are shown in Figure 43 and a picture of the integral
system is shown in Figure 44.

Figure 43 CAD-illustration (left) and picture of the heat pump (right)

Figure 44 Picture of the high-temperature thermoacoustic integral system

The overall performance of the integral system is given in Figure 45. The integral system
achieves an overall performance of 0.92 for a medium temperature of 60C and a performance

37
of 0.81 at 80C. This is lower than the objective performances for both cases which are 1.4 and
1.2, respectively.
1.0
o
60 C
o
80 C

0.8

0.6


0.4

0.2

0.0
0 1 2 3 4
Dr [%]
Figure 45 Overall performance of the high-temperature thermoacoustic integral system for two
medium temperatures 60 and 80°C

The project objectives and the achieved results for the integral system at a drive ratio of 2.47 %
are summarized in Table 6 and Table 7 for 60C and 80C, respectively.

Table 6 Objective and achieved results for the high-temperature integral system for 60°C
Project plan Achieved
Efficiency relative to Carnot engine 0.40 0.24
Performance relative to Carnot Heat pump 0.40 0.39
Performance integral system 1.40 0.92
Resonator efficiency 0.90 0.75

Table 7 Objective and achieved results for the high-temperature integral system for 80°C
Project plan Achieved
Efficiency relative to Carnot engine 0.40 0.21
Performance relative to Carnot Heat pump 0.40 0.39
Performance integral system 1.20 0.81
Resonator efficiency 0.90 0.76

This lower performance is due to the large heat losses in the engine. If we would be able to
suppress the heat leak down the TBT for example results in an overall performance of 1.2 at
60C and 1.1 at 80C. Additionally, the performance of engine increases with the drive ratio. In
the resent experiments it is not possible to achieve higher drive ratio’s than about 4 % because
of the limited heat input to the engine as a consequence of the heat losses and limited hot air
flow. Higher efficiencies can be achieved by suppressing or minimizing the heat leak and
improving the heat transfer of the hot heat exchanger in the engine.

In the integral system at dr = 2.47 % the heat pump achieved a performance relative to Carnot of
39 % for both temperature of 60 and 80C but the engine efficiency is significantly lower. The
resonator achieved a performance of 76 % at dr = 2.47 %.

38
Conclusions
The integral system achieves an overall performance of 0.6 for a medium temperature of 60C
and a performance of 0.5 at 80C at dr = 2.47 %. This is lower than the objective performances
for both cases which are 1.4 and 1.2, respectively. This lower performance is mainly due to the
large heat losses in the engine. Additionally, it is shown in this document that the performance
of engine increases with the drive ratio. In the present experiments it is not possible to achieve
higher drive ratio’s because of the limited heat input to the engine as a consequence of the heat
losses and limited hot air flow. Higher efficiencies can be achieved by suppressing or
minimizing the heat leak and improving the heat transfer of the hot heat exchanger in the
engine.

The system reaches about 60 % of the objective. While at the component level the efficiencies
are 75 % or higher (even to 100 %) of the target, the multiplication of the efficiencies of the
individual components leads to this overall result. The requirements for the optimal
performance of the individual components do not always match with each other. For example, a
high drive ratio leads to high useful powers compared to the heat losses and thus a high
efficiency for an engine but at the same time a high drive ratio leads to high acoustic losses in
the resonator

3.8.2 Low-temperature integral system

The refrigerator and low-temperature engine are designed and constructed by different partners
in the project and build and tested in different acoustic geometries. To end up with a complete
system an integrating strategy was agreed. This integration involves replacing one of the four
engine stages of the low temperature engine by the regenerator unit of the refrigerator. This
integration strategy is depicted schematically in Figure 46. This approach has been proven to be
successful resulting in a full functional low temperature integrated system according to the
project plan.

Figure 46 Integration strategy for the low temperature system

Figure 47 gives both the measured Pac_loop / T curve for the initial 4 stage engine and the 3-
stage engine loaded with the refrigerator (zero temperature lift).

39
Figure 47 The Pac_loop / T curve for the initial 4 stage engine and the 3-stage engine
loaded with the refrigerator cell (zero temperature lift) as a function of the input
temperature difference

Surprisingly there is hardly any streaming observed in this geometry. This can be partially
explained by the fact that for the same acoustic loop power in a traveling wave feedback loop
the amplitude is nearly half the amplitude in a standing wave resonator. Knowing that streaming
is proportional with pressure amplitude this account for halving the streaming. The remaining
lack of streaming however is not understood yet but fortunately it is found to be reproducible.
Absence of streaming is also observed in other similar but even much larger multistage
traveling wave feedback systems.

The performance of the low temperature integral system is measured at three different engine
input temperatures, yielding three different drive ratio’s at the refrigerator. Table 8 shows a
summary of the engine and refrigerator performance.

Table 8 Performance of the WP6 integrated system measured at increasing engine input
temperature
Engine
TH_E Hot hex input temperature ºC 169 211 239
TH_reg Regenerator high temperature ºC 138 178 199
TC_reg Regenerator low temperature ºC 32.1 38.8 47
T_E Thermal efficiency (Wout_E / QE ) - 0.10 0.14 0.15
2_E Exegetic efficiency relative to TH_E - 0.29 0.34 0.35
Refrigerator
dr Drive ratio at cold hex % 1.33 1.53 1.78
Tc_R Cold hex temperature ºC -33.7 -40.5 -45.5
COP ( QC_R / Win_R ) - 1.42 1.02 0.67
2_R Exegetic efficiency relative to TC_R - 0.32 0.29 0.19

Table 9 presents the original the targets for the overall performance including engine,
refrigerator and acoustic feedback or resonance circuit with the realized values.

40
Table 9 Target and realized overall performance of the low temperature integrated system
Project plan Realized
Exergetic efficiency 0.40 0.34
engine
Exergetic efficiency 0.40 0.29
refrigerator
Resonator efficiency 0.90 0.84
Overall exergetic 0.140 0.084
efficiency

Conclusions
The realized overall performance of the low temperature integral system does not fully meet the
target value specified in the project plan defined as the product of the exergetic efficiencies of
the individual system parts. Causes of this deviation are identified and are found to be a
consequence of engineering and chosen implementations, rather than be fundamental in nature.

Main cause of not reaching the engine efficiency is the high temperature drop across the low
cost heat exchangers used in the engine stages. This temperature drop cause the engine running
effectively on a 50ºC lower temperature as was applied from the heat source.

Main cause of not reaching the cooler efficiency is declining of the regenerator impedance at
increasing pressure amplitude or drive ratio. In the current setup it was not possible to
compensate for that for practical reasons. Compensating for this effect requires slightly different
lengths of the feedback tubes which was not feasible in the folded construction.

This all has paved the way towards realistic applications in the field of waste heat recovery,
solar powered cooling gas liquefaction and more. Based on this geometry commercial
development for some applications is already started.

Summarizing, the multi-stage traveling wave geometry proposed and developed for the WP6
low temperature integrated system has proven to be successful in reaching a low engine onset
and operating temperature and in system compactness because of the internal gas volume is less
than a quarter of the internal volume of the standing wave-torus geometry. It has also proven
that a thermoacoustic refrigerator cell inserted into this traveling wave geometry could
performance similar as in existing torus or bypass configurations.

41
4. Potential impact and the main dissemination activities and exploitation of results

4.1 Exploitation and impact

Thermoacoustic knowledge and in particular the knowledge obtained from THATEA can be
exploited in several ways. A large number of product-market combinations can be realized with
thermoacoustics, as already stated in the project proposal. As a general overview the next table
is presented. The horizontal axis describes the different ways a thermoacoustic system can be
driven. The vertical axis presents the different ‘products’. On the horizontal axis, a difference is
made in low-temperature heat (waste heat, solar heat), high-temperature heat (burner, electrical
heater) and a linear motor (electrically driven). The products are heat, cold, and power
(electricity, work). Multiple products can be combined into one system. A heat/heat product
refers to a system that produces heat at two (or more) temperature levels. An ‘X” denotes a
combination that make very little sense from an energy point of view.

Drive Waste heat Solar heat Burner

Linear motor
Product Th < 200ºC Th < 200ºC Electrical heater
Process heat Process industry Process industry
Developing countries
Process industry Dwellings Dwellings
Small-scale processes
Offices Offices
Cold Process industry Developing countries Liquefaction
Liquefaction
Air-conditioning Refrigerator/freezer
Refrigerator/freezer
Transportation Refrigerator/freezer Transportation
Power Geothermal
Photovoltaic (PV) Small-scale
Transportation
market electricity production
X
Process industry
Heat/cold Food industry Food industry Food industry
Heat/power Dwellings Dwellings
Offices PV-Thermal market Offices X
Process industry Process industry
Heat/heat Developing countries
Process industry
Small-scale processes
Process industry X

As illustrated above, the list of possible applications is very wide since thermoacoustic energy
conversion can be applied as a very general energy technology involving engines and heat
pumps. This is truly generic technology which application crosses all sectors. Since the
operating principle and the technology base is the same for each of these applications, this offers
great benefits to the economic feasibility. Application development for a specific situation in a
specific sector can take advantage of similar developments taking place for a different
application, both technically and economically. Whether a development leads to success
depends on a number of criteria which differ per application. A general list of the criteria that
are relevant for success is given here.
 Operating conditions. Do the conditions of the application match with the conditions under
which a TA-system can be applied?
 Environmental and safety aspects. Does the TA-system pose any environmental or safety
concerns? Since these systems generally use Helium as working medium, environmental
aspects should be of no concern. Safety aspects can be relevant since TA-systems are
pressure vessels.
 Integration aspects. Can the TA-system easily be integrated into the existing system or is it
only applicable in new designs?
 Performance. What is the efficiency of the TA-system? This efficiency is defined as the
useful product (heat, cold, electricity) divided by the required input (heat, natural gas,
electricity).
 Reliability & Maintenance. What is the reliability of the system and in relation to this, what
are the maintenance requirements? In general, TA-systems are considered very reliable.

42
 Control & start-up. Is the system easy to control and start-up?
 Acceptance. What is the acceptance of the targeted end-user for TA-technology?
 Maximum System size (power/capacity). Can the system be scaled up sufficiently to meet
the desired scale level?
 Size. Are their geometrical constraints that limit the application of TA-systems?
 System Cost. What are the system costs, including integration into the application?

This project had a large focus on efficiency. The project demonstrated that the required
efficiencies can be met on a component level but additional work is still needed to achieve this
at a system level. The following applications are pursued by one or more partners for further
development and commercialization.

Industrial waste heat transformer

A thermoacoustic waste heat transformer consists of a waste heat driven thermoacoustic engine
coupled with a heat pump. The engine runs between the temperature of industrial waste heat and
ambient temperature. The acoustic power that is generated from this engine is used in a heat
pump that upgrades heat from waste heat to process heat levels. This concept need sufficiently
high temperatures to drive the engine. Therefore this concept is specifically applicable where
waste heat temperature are relatively high. In addition, the process heat level should be in the
order of 50-100°C higher than the waste heat. The main target sector for this application is the
(petro)chemical and refining sector. Key success factors are efficiency, costs, and whether the
system can be scaled to industrial power levels. Targeted efficiency is 20-25% (process heat
out/waste heat in). Targeted power per system is 1 MW waste heat. The waste heat potential
within Europe is estimated at 26 EJ. Even if only one quarter is available and the efficiency of
the thermoacoustic system is 25% (which is feasible based on the targeted objectives), 6.5 EJ of
waste heat can be upgraded to 1.6 EJ useful heat. ECN works on this concept in cooperation
with two Dutch equipment manufacturers.

Industrial linear motor driven heat pump

This system consists of an electrically driven linear motor which produces acoustic power for a
heat pump. A thermoacoustic heat pump is very flexible with respect to operating temperature
and required temperature lift. The heat pump will upgrade waste heat to usable temperature
levels. In particular this system can be used in combination with distillation columns present in
the (petro)chemical industry. The fluids in these columns are boiled by, for example, steam of
150°C. The vapor in the column is condensed at 100°C. A heat pump can upgrade the
condensation heat to provide heat for the boiling process. Conventional heat pumps are not able
to provide this function in an economical way. Key success factors are efficiency, costs, and
whether the system can be scaled to industrial power levels. The estimated saving potential
within Europe is 0.2 EJ. ECN works on this system in cooperation with major chemical
companies.

High-temperature driven heat pump for industrial and domestic/office applications

An interesting application for both industry and build environment is to use a high-temperature
engine (burner driven) coupled to a heat pump. For the build environment, the heat pump would
operate between 10°C and 60-80°C as studied within this project. For industrial applications, a
wide variety of temperatures could applied. The knowledge obtained from the THATEA project
can be used to develop applications in this area. Key success factors depend on the application.
For industrial purposes, costs, efficiency, integration, and scalability will be an issue. In the
build environment, energy prices are higher and permitted payback times longer, therefore
requirements can be less strict with respect to efficiency and costs. Size will be an important
issue here. If the targeted performances on a system level can be reached, the estimated energy
savings for domestic applications is about 1 EJ for Europe. The industrial savings are very hard
to estimate since this depends on the specific situation and needs to be evaluated on a case by
case basis. ECN is pursuing this application.

43
CNRS
In general the knowledge gained by THATEA will be used for academic research purposes
within CNRS. This holds specifically for the work on heat exchangers and streaming
phenomena. The more application oriented work is done in cooperation with Hekyom,
specifically on solar driven cooling. CNRS cooperates with Hekyom on this development. A
more extensive description is found below at the activities of Hekyom.

Thermoacoustic power production

A pilot is built of a multi-stage thermoacoustic power generator at an industrial plant to convert
100 kW waste heat at 160ºC into 10 kW electricity. Aim of this pilot is to demonstrate
thermoacoustics on an industrial scale and the integration into an existing production process.
This activity is carried out in the SBIR frame work by Aster together with two Dutch
companies, Innoforte ( www.innoforte.nl/ ) en Huisman Innovations (www.huisman-
elektro.nl/innovations/) . After successful completion of the pilot the thermal and electric power
levels will be scaled up first to become economic viable. Because of the pilot is not completed
yet, market introduction by the commercial partner(s) is expect to start now in 2014.

Solar cooling
A prototype of a solar heat powered cooler is under construction by Aster as an add-on for
vacuum tube based solar collector systems. This activity is carried out in collaboration with
Watt, a Polish solar collector manufacturer (www.watt.pl/en/ ) and Thermo Acoustic Solutions
(TAS) a Polish research/investment company.

Gas liquefaction
The market for gas liquefaction is expanding rapidly. Because of the extreme temperature range
of thermoacoustic cooling it could become an important technology in this field. Together with
Frames, a gas processing company (www.frames-group.com/), the feasibility of this technology
for liquefying bio-gas is under investigation by Aster.

Small scale electricity generation for rural area

The UK based Score project (www.score.uk.com/) aims to develop a wood burning stove that
generates electricity and refrigeration for rural areas and developing countries. The multi-stage
concept is introduced in the project and small scale (local) production of those stoves equipped
with a 2-stage thermoacoustic engine is foreseen in 2013.

Industrial refrigeration
A thermoacoustic chiller is under development at HEKYOM. Its aim is to cool an industrial
refrigerated cabinet and pump 350 Watt at – 15°C. For compactness and efficiency, a linear
alternator is used to generate the acoustic wave needed by the thermoacoustic loop refrigerator.
Such a project, made with a French company and supported by ADEME, is in progress.

Solar driven cooling

A promising concept is to use thermoacoustic technology to convert solar heat directly into
cooling. Thermoacoustic is indeed currently the only device that can accept such high
temperature level, allowing higher efficiency compared to adsorption or absorption systems.
HEKYOM is involved in such a program with CNRS, supported par the French national
Research Agency.

Waste heat or Solar heat to electricity

HEKYOM is involved into several industrial projects in which the energy source would be
waste heat like exhaust gas of thermal engine, fumes or solar energy. The goal is to generate
about 1 to 5 kilowatts of electricity. HEKYOM has made a patent deposit demand in 2010 and
2011 with a PCT procedure in 2011. He has also ordered an economic promotion and
development of such a machine: “heat to electricity” from a patent Company in 2010 and 2011.

44
4.2 Dissemination
This section contains an overview of the peer reviewed publications and the other dissemination
activities with respect to the THATEA project.

Peer reviewed publications

Shi L, Yu Z and Jaworski AJ 2011 Investigation into the Strouhal numbers associated with
vortex shedding from parallel-plate thermoacoustic stacks in oscillatory flow conditions, to
European Journal of Mechanics – B/Fluids, 30(2), 206-217.

Abduljalil ARS, Yu Z and Jaworski AJ 2011 Selection and experimental evaluation of low-
cost porous materials for regenerator applications in thermoacoustic engines, Materials and
Design, 32(1), 217-228.

Shi L, Mao X and Jaworski AJ 2010 Application of planar laser induced fluorescence
measurement techniques to study heat transfer characteristics of parallel-plate heat exchangers
in thermoacoustic devices, Measurement Science and Technology, 21(11), 115405 (16pp).

Blok. C.A.M. de, Novel 4-stage travelling-wave thermoacoustic power generator, Proceedings
ASME-FEDSM-ICNMM2010, Montreal, Canada, 1-5 August 2010.

Vanapalli S., Tijani M.E.H., Spoelstra S., Thermoacoustic-stirling heat pump for domestic
applications, Proceedings ASME-FEDSM-ICNMM2010, Montreal, Canada, 1-5 August 2010.

Tijani, M.E.H., Vanapalli, S., Spoelstra, S., Design of a mechanical resonator to be coupled
to a thermoacoustic stirling-engine, Proceedings ASME-FEDSM-ICNMM2010, Montreal,
Canada, 1-5 August 2010.

Piccolo, A., Heat transfer characteristics of parallel plate thermoacoustic heat exchangers,
Proceedings of the ASME-ATI-UIT 2010 Conference Thermal and Environmental Issues in
Energy Systems, 16-19 May 2010, Pisa, Italy

Piccolo, A., La Face, L., Ponterio, L., Entropy generation characteristics of thermoacoustic
stacks and heat exchangers, Proceedings of Thrid International Conference on Applied Energy,
May 16-18 2011, Perugia, Italy.

Pierens, M., Experimental characterization of a thermoacoustic travelling-wave refrigerator,

Proceedings of the International Conference on Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer and
Thermodynamics, July 13-15 2011, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Piccolo, A., Numerical computation for parallel plate thermoacoustic heat exchangers in
standing wave oscillatory flow, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2011 Vol 54,
4518-4530.
Piccolo, A., Jaworski, A.J., Mao, X., Experimental and numerical study of temperature
distribution and heat transfer in parallel-plate thermoacoustic heat exchangers, Proceedings
66th National Congress of Associazione Termotecnica Italiana (ATI), 5-9 September 2011,
Italy.

Yu, Z., Experimental testing of the flow resistance and thermal conductivity of porous materials
for regenerators, Proceedings 23rd IIR International Congress of Refrigeration, 21-26 August
2011, Prague.

45
Saat, F.A.Z., Yu, Z., Jaworski, A.J.,CFD-assisted regenerator analysis: application to
thermoacoustic system, Proceedings 23rd IIR International Congress of Refrigeration, 21-26
August 2011, Prague.

Mao, X., Kamsanam, W., Jaworski, A.J., Convective heat transfer from fins-on-tubes heat
exchangers in an oscillatory flow, Proceedings 23rd IIR International Congress of Refrigeration,
21-26 August 2011, Prague.

Mao, X., Shi, L., Jaworski, A.J., Kamsanam, W., Heat Transfer on Parallel Plate Heat
Exchangers in an Oscillatory Flow, Proceedings 10th Biennial Conference on Engineering
Systems Design and Analysis, 12-14 July 2010, Istanbul

Piccolo, A., Impact of heat exchanger fin length and spacing on the cooling power of standing
wave thermoacoustic refrigerator, Proceedings 66th National Congress of Associazione
Termotecnica Italiana (ATI), 5-9 September 2011, Italy.

46
Dissemination activities

Type of Partner Title Date & Place Audience

activity
Presentation at UNIME 66th National Congress of 5-9 September Scientific community
Conference Associazione Termotecnica 2011, Calabria
Italiana (ATI),
Presentations at UNIMAN 23rd IIR International Congress 21-26 August Scientific community
Conference of Refrigeration 2011, Prague Industry
Presentation at UNIMAN 10th Biennial Conference on 12-14 July 2010, Scientific community
Conference Engineering Systems Design and Istanbul
Analysis
Presentations at ECN ASME 3rd Joint US-European 1-5 August 2010, Scientific community
Conference Aster Fluids Engineering Summer Montreal Industry
Meeting
Presentation Aster Thermo Acoustic Power (TAP) 23 March 2011, Industry
Utrecht
Presentation Aster Border crossing acoustics 23 November Scientific community
2011, Utrecht
Presentation Aster Introduction to thermoacoustics 14 December Scientific community
2009, Wroclaw Students
Presentations at ECN The 19th international Congres 8-12 July 2012, Scientific community
Conference Aster on Sound and vibration Vilnius
Presentations at CNRS Journee Thermoacoustique 10 December Scientific community
workshop ECN SFT/SFA 2010, Paris Industry
Presentations at Aster International Conference on 2-3 April 2012, Civil society
Conference "Low-cost, electricity generating Nottingham
heat engines for rural areas
Presentation at ECN Acoustics 2012 1-5 August 2012, Scientific community
Conference Nantes Industry
Presentation at ECN Heat Powered Cycles Conference 10-12 September Scientific community
Conference Co-organised by ECN 2012, Alkmaar Industry
Presentation at CNRS International Conference on 13 July 2011, Scientific community
Conference Fluid Mechanics, heat transfer Amsterdam
and Thermodynamics
Contribution to CNRS Fete de la science 16 October 2011, Civil society
festival Orsay
Interview Hekyom Thermoacoustics: Process and 4 February 2010 Scientific community
industrial applications Industry
Civil society
Contribution to UNIME Festival dell'Energia (Festival of 15 June 2012, Industry
festival Energy) Perugia Civil society
Policy makers
Thesis UNIME Computational 2012 Scientific community
thermofluiddynamics for the
study of thermoacoustic systems
Articles in ECN Projects Magazine March 2012 Civil society
popular press - Thermoacoustics, the dawn Policy makers
of a new era in energy
production?

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5. Contact details

Project website www.thatea.eu

Partners and contact persons

Partner Contact person E-mail address Phone number
ECN S. Spoelstra spoelstra@ecn.nl +31 224564523
CNRS J.P. Thermeau thermeau@ipno.in2p3.fr +33 169157902
UNIMAN A.J. Jaworski aj160@leicester.ac.uk +44 1162231033
Aster C.M. de Blok info@aster-thermoacoustics.com +31 578631103
UNIME A. Piccolo apiccolo@unime.it +39 0903977311
Hekyom T. le Polles thierry.lepolles@hekyom.com +33 673356090
NRG M. Loginov loginov@nrg.eu +31 224568191

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