Design issues of a thermoacoustic refrigerator and its heat exchangers

TLDR: In this paper, the authors built a thermoacoustic refrigerator model and applied visualization techniques, such as smoke injection and holographic interferometry, to visualize the flow and temperature fields at the interface.

Abstract: Thermoacoustic refrigeration is a fast advancing new refrigeration technology. Performance calculations indicate remarkable values for the thermoacoustic core of a thermoacoustic refrigerator. The thermoacoustic core is responsible for pumping heat from a cold to a hot temperature reservoir. However, the systems necessary to support the thermoacoustic core, such as heat exchangers and acoustic drivers are the weak points of this refrigeration technology. Particularly, heat exchangers were designed so far without any optimization. A reason for this is the lack of knowledge of the flow structures and heat transfer phenomena at the interface between the thermoacoustic core and the heat exchangers. For the purpose of gaining better insight, the authors built a thermoacoustic refrigerator model and applied visualization techniques, such as smoke injection and holographic interferometry, to visualize the flow and temperature fields at the interface.