Experimental Study of an Acoustic Resonant Cooling System

Using a thermo-acoustic engine to drive a pulse tube cryocooler achieves the goal of having acooling system without any moving parts. Moreover, to generate larger cooling capacity, amulti-stage acoustically resonant cooling systemis presented.A three stage experimental prototype is built. In experiments withcharge pressure of 3.5 MPa and heating temperature of 923K, the cold fingers reach a minimum temperature of 76K, and obtain a total cooling capacity of 100W at a liquefiednaturalgastemperature of 130K; the overall relative Carnot heat driven efficiency reached3.5%. In different working conditions, system performance improves as charging pressure and heating temperature rise. Preliminary experimental results suggest that this is a great breakthrough in heat-driven cooling systems. As the matching mechanism is further improved and dimensions andstages further enlarged, this acoustically resonant cooling system will producegreater cooling capacity and much higher efficiency.