Thermoacoustic heat engine

A schematic representation of a thermoacoustic hot-air engine. The hot side of the heat exchanger is connected to hot heat reservoir – and the cold side to cold heat reservoir. The electro-acoustic transducer, e.g. a loudspeaker, is not shown.

Thermoacoustic engines (sometimes called "TA engines") are thermoacoustic devices which use high-amplitude sound waves to pump heat from one place to another (this requires work, which is provided by the loudspeaker) or use a heat difference to produce work in the form of sound waves (these waves can then be converted into electrical current the same way as a microphone does).

These devices can be designed to use either a standing wave or a travelling wave.

Compared to vapor refrigerators, thermoacoustic refrigerators have no coolant and few moving parts (only the loudspeaker), therefore require no dynamic sealing or lubrication.[1]

  1. ^ Ceperley, P. (1979). "A pistonless Stirling engine – the travelling wave heat engine". J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 66 (5): 1508–1513. Bibcode:1979ASAJ...66.1508C. doi:10.1121/1.383505.