International Journal of Research in Advent Technology, Vol.3, No.

4, April 2015
E-ISSN: 2321-9637

Design and Fabrication of Thermoacoustic Refrigerator

Ratish Sawant1, Sandesh Rasal2, Gaurav Yadav3, Arunkumar Yadav4, Darshan Kadam5,
Department of Mechanical Engineering1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
University of Mumbai1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Email: [email protected],[email protected],[email protected],
[email protected],[email protected]

Abstract - This paper deals with design and fabrication of Thermoacoustic refrigerator. Fabrications of different
components used in refrigerator are discussed along with reasons for the same. The major components of
Thermoacoustic refrigerators are Resonator Tube, Stack and Acoustic Driver. Experimentation showed that
cooling with the help of Thermoacoustic is possible but it was difficult for us to achieve higher efficiency due to
restriction of materials.
Index Terms - Thermoacoustic, Stack, Resonator.

1. INTRODUCTION 2.1. Working gas

Refrigerators are used for many purposes from
preserving foods to keep things that are supposed to To achieve high efficiency inert gases like
be cold. So, it can be said that refrigerators have Helium, Xenon, etc. are preferred. They possess
applications in almost every field. Conventional low kinematic viscosity as compared to other
refrigerators uses Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) gases which makes it possible for molecules to
like Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and vibrate freely even in a small portion resulting in
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) as refrigerants, which high utilization of gas molecules to participate in
depletes the ozone layer. To overcome this problem heat transfer. It has the characteristics like high
an alternative is needed for refrigeration purpose.One velocity of sound and high mean pressure required
of the alternatives is Thermoacoustic refrigerator, to generate high acoustic power. Inert gases have
which does not use any environmentally-unfriendly certain issues like leakages; cost, refilling, etc.
refrigerants like CFCs and HFCs. Instead, it depends therefore air with high pressure can also be used
upon the power of sound to generate oscillations as a working medium.
required to compress the working gas.
Thermoacoustic mainly consist of acoustic driver
(loudspeaker) attached to a resonator tube which 2.2. Acoustic driver
carries a working medium as air in our case. In the The sound waves required by the refrigerator are
Resonator tube spiral stack are installed as shown in produced by an acoustic driver fitted at one end of
figure. The loudspeaker generates acoustic standing resonator tube. Large amount of power from acoustic
waves in the resonator tube at the fundamental driver is consumed to pump heat across the stack and
frequency of the resonator. These standing waves rest is dissipated to various parts of refrigerator.
displaces the working medium in resonator tube Basically it converts electrical power into acoustic
across the stack while compressing and expanding. power. High performance is essential for better results
This cyclic compression and expansion of working of system.
medium will provide a thermal interaction between
the oscillating gas and the surface of the stack 2.3. Acoustic resonator
generates an acoustic heat pumping.
The main disadvantage of Thermoacoustic A resonator tube is a long hollow pipe which is a
refrigerator is its low efficiency as compared to a cylindrical tube having an air column. Resonator
Vapor Compression Refrigeration System. should be compact, lightweight and strong enough to
sustain the working pressure. Consideration of
2. DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS shape, length, weight and the losses are important
A Thermoacoustic refrigerator basically consists of an parameters to focus on while designing the resonator.
acoustic power source, a resonator, a stack. The length of total resonator tube is equal to quarter
of the wavelength of the standing wave is: L= λ /4
and λ =a/f, where, “a” is the speed of sound, “λ” is the
wavelength and “f” is the resonance frequency.

2.4. Stack
Stack is the main component of Thermoacoustic
refrigerator across which temperature gradient is
obtained. The amount acoustic power that can be used

104
 International Journal of Research in Advent Technology, Vol.3, No.4, April 2015
E-ISSN: 2321-9637

pump heat depends on several aspects of stack like,

stack positioning, its material and dimensions. It
should have high heat capacity and low thermal
conductivity as compared to working medium. Low
thermal conductivity is essential to minimize the
losses through conduction from hot side of stack to
cold side of stack. Length and shape of stack
determines how much the sound waves propagate
through it.

3. FABRICATION

3.1. Acoustic driver Fig. 3. Stack

Snail type electric horn is selected for the role of
acoustic driver. Frequency of this acoustic driver is
400Hz and it produces sound of 108dB 3.4. . Digital temperature indicator
approximately. It is having a diameter of 9.2cm. An electronic digital temperature indicator is used to
display the temperature readings.

Fig. 1. Acoustic driver

Fig. 4. Digital temperature indicator

3.2. Resonator tube

The material selected for resonator tube is Acrylic 4. EXPERIMENTATION
having an inside diameter of 9 cm and length of 49 The experimentation procedure is as described below:
cm. Thickness of resonator tube is kept 0.5cm to
• A loudspeaker generated sound waves are
sustain working pressure.
passed inside the resonator tube with a
frequency of 400Hz.
• Setup was kept running for a duration of 2
hours.
• The temperature and time was measured with
the help of digital temperature and stop
watch.

Fig. 2. Resonator tube

3.3. Stack
The material selected for stack is Mylar whose
thermal conductivity is 0.16w/mk and heat capacity
1.25kJ/kgK. The spiral stack consists of a polyester
Mylar sheet, wound around a PVC pipe having a
diameter of 5 mm. The Mylar sheet has a thickness of
0.06 mm.

Fig. 5. Experimental setup

105
 International Journal of Research in Advent Technology, Vol.3, No.4, April 2015
E-ISSN: 2321-9637

5. APPLICATIONS [7] İbrahim GİRGİN , Mehmet TÜRKER,

“Thermoacoustic Systems As An Alternative To
Low cost, high efficiency eco-friendly cooling
Conventional Coolers” , Journal of Naval Science
devices such as Thermoacoustic have broad
and Engineering 2012, Vol.8, No.1, pp.14-32.
applications in households and commercial industries.
[8] Scott Backhaus and Greg Swift, “New Varieties
Since most of the noise generating electronic
Of Thermoacoustic Engines”, LA-UR-02-2721,
components, e.g. semiconductor devices, operate
9th International Congress on Sound and
faster and more effectively at lower temperatures. If
Vibration, July 2002.
Thermoacoustic could be employed in electronic
[9] C. Herman, Z. Travnicek. Cool sound: the future
industries then overall efficiency of electronic devices
of refrigeration? Thermodynamic and heat
can be increased. Future applications of
transfer issues in thermoacoustic refrigeration.
Thermoacoustic cooling devices would not be
Heat and Mass Transfer. April 2006.
restricted to industrial uses only but also could
[10] Daniel A. Russell and Pontus Weibull, "Tabletop
provide inexpensive heating and cooling for homes.
thermoacoustic refrigerator for demonstrations,"
Am. J. Phys. 70 (12), December 2002.
6. CONCLUSION
In this paper design considerations for
Thermoacoustic refrigerator are discussed.
Appropriate parameters were selected and fabrication
is done. Temperature variations across the stack were
non determinant because of oscillations in the
temperature of room and device. Our resonator was
able to hold 1.5 atm without experiencing major leaks.
Giving the Thermoacoustic refrigerator a higher
pressure capacity would likely allow it to cool better.
The efficiency of Thermoacoustic refrigerator can be
improved by either and/or combining following ideas.
• Changing the position of stack.
• Using an inert gas as a medium.
• Using an acoustic driver of a higher intensity.
• One could use parallel plates instead of spiral
stack.

REFERENCES
[1] G.W. Swift,. Thermo acoustics: A unifying
perspective for some engines and refrigerators.,
short course, March 1999 Berlin.
[2] G.W. Swift, .Thermoacoustic engines and
refrigerators., Encyclopedia of Applied physics.
21, 245 (1997).
[3] T.J. Hofler, .Thermoacoustic refrigerator design
and performance., Ph.D. dissertation, Physics
Department, University of California at San
Diego, (1986).
[4] Tijani M.E.H., Zeegers J.C.H., and De Waele
A.T.A.M. “Construction and performance of a
thermoacoustic refrigerator.” Cryogenics,
42(1):59-66, 2001.
[5] Garett, S. L. (2004). Resource letter: TA-1:
Thermoacoustic engines and refrigerators.
[6] Viswa Mohan Pedagopu & Khannaji Pattapu, “A
novel approach to design and fabrication of
thermo-acoustic refrigerator using high amplitude
sound waves”, IOSR Journal of Mechanical and
Civil Engineering (IOSR-JMCE) e-ISSN: 2278-
1684,p-ISSN: 2320-334X, Volume 8, Issue 6
(Sep. - Oct. 2013), PP 15-24.

106