Simulation studies on the performance of thermoacoustic prime movers and refrigerator

• CFD simulation studies of twin SWTAPM and TWTAPM are done with He, N2, and Ar.
• Thermoacoustically driven SWTAR is studied experimentally and simulated by CFD.
• Choice of working fluid and its pressure are important for prime mover performance.
• Experimental data are predicted better by CFD analysis than by DeltaEC simulations.
• Increase of mass number of fluid lowers frequency but increases pressure amplitude.

The prime movers and refrigerators based on thermoacoustics have gained considerable importance toward practical applications in view of the absence of moving components, reasonable efficiency, use of environmental friendly working fluids, etc. Devices such as twin Standing Wave ThermoAcoustic Prime Mover (SWTAPM), Traveling Wave ThermoAcoustic Prime Mover (TWTAPM) and thermoacoustically driven Standing Wave ThermoAcoustic Refrigerator (SWTAR) have been studied by researchers. The numerical modeling and simulation play a vital role in their development.In our efforts to build the above thermoacoustic systems, we have carried out numerical analysis using the procedures of CFD on the above systems. The results of the analysis are compared with those of DeltaEC (freeware from LANL, USA) simulations and the experimental results wherever possible. For the CFD analysis commercial code Fluent 6.3.26 has been used along with the necessary boundary conditions for different working fluids at various average pressures. The results of simulation indicate that choice of the working fluid and the average pressure are critical to the performance of the above thermoacoustic devices. Also it is observed that the predictions through the CFD analysis are closer to the experimental results in most cases, compared to those of DeltaEC simulations.