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A looped three-stage cascade traveling-wave thermoacoustically-driven cryocooler

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  • Xu, Jingyuan
  • Hu, Jianying
  • Zhang, Limin
  • Luo, Ercang

Abstract

This paper introduces a novel, looped, thermoacoustically-driven cryocooler, which is a promising candidate for natural gas liquefaction applications. Several thermoacoustic heat engines of different diameters are connected end-to-end by small-diameter resonance tubes. One pulse tube cooler is connected to the branch of the last-stage engine. This system is highly reliable, efficient, and compact for a looped configuration. In particular, the system realized cascade acoustic power amplification with only a single power output, which promises large capacity and structure simplicity. Here, a three-stage traveling-wave system is designed and numerically investigated. A comparison is made with the existing multiple pulse tube cryocoolers which indicates the superior performance of this novel system. The distributions of some key parameters and the exergy loss are presented and analyzed to better understand the energy conversion process. Two area ratios are found to be critical to the engine performance. According to the calculation, using 7 MPa pressurized helium gas, a cooling power of 1300 W and a total exergy efficiency of 15.7% is achieved at 110 K with 20.2 kW input heat at 923 K.

Suggested Citation

  • Xu, Jingyuan & Hu, Jianying & Zhang, Limin & Luo, Ercang, 2016. "A looped three-stage cascade traveling-wave thermoacoustically-driven cryocooler," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 804-809.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:112:y:2016:i:c:p:804-809
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2016.06.095
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Xu, Jingyuan & Zhang, Limin & Hu, Jianying & Wu, Zhanghua & Bi, Tianjiao & Dai, Wei & Luo, Ercang, 2016. "An efficient looped multiple-stage thermoacoustically-driven cryocooler for liquefaction and recondensation of natural gas," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 427-433.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Xiao, Lei & Luo, Kaiqi & Chi, Jiaxin & Chen, Geng & Wu, Zhanghua & Luo, Ercang & Xu, Jingyuan, 2023. "Study on a direct-coupling thermoacoustic refrigerator using time-domain acoustic-electrical analogy method," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 339(C).
    2. Chen, Geng & Tang, Lihua & Mace, Brian & Yu, Zhibin, 2021. "Multi-physics coupling in thermoacoustic devices: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    3. Xiao, Lei & Luo, Kaiqi & Zhao, Dan & Chen, Geng & Bi, Tianjiao & Xu, Jingyuan & Luo, Ercang, 2023. "Time-domain acoustic-electrical analogy investigation on a high-power traveling-wave thermoacoustic electric generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PE).
    4. Liu, Shaoshuai & Chen, Xi & Zhang, Ankuo & Jiang, Zhenhua & Wu, Yinong & Zhang, Hua, 2017. "Investigation of the inertance tube of a pulse tube refrigerator operating at high temperatures," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 378-385.
    5. Hu, Yiwei & Xu, Jingyuan & Zhao, Dan & Yang, Rui & Hu, Jianying & Luo, Ercang, 2024. "Analysis on a single-stage direct-coupled thermoacoustic refrigerator driven by low/medium-grade heat," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 361(C).
    6. Dong, Shichong & Shen, Guoqing & Xu, Mobei & Zhang, Shiping & An, Liansuo, 2019. "The effect of working fluid on the performance of a large-scale thermoacoustic Stirling engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 378-386.
    7. Xu, Jingyuan & Hu, Jianying & Luo, Ercang & Zhang, Limin & Dai, Wei, 2019. "A cascade-looped thermoacoustic driven cryocooler with different-diameter resonance tubes. Part I: Theoretical analysis of thermodynamic performance and characteristics," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 943-953.
    8. Xu, Jingyuan & Hu, Jianying & Luo, Ercang & Hu, Jiangfeng & Zhang, Limin & Hochgreb, Simone, 2022. "Numerical study on a heat-driven piston-coupled multi-stage thermoacoustic-Stirling cooler," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    9. Xu, Jingyuan & Luo, Ercang & Hochgreb, Simone, 2021. "A thermoacoustic combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) system for waste heat and LNG cold energy recovery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    10. Xu, Jingyuan & Luo, Ercang & Hochgreb, Simone, 2020. "Study on a heat-driven thermoacoustic refrigerator for low-grade heat recovery," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).

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