High Frequency Thermoacoustic Refrigerator.

Abstract

The design, development, and tests of a high frequency thermoacoustic refrigerator are presented. It was developed to operate at 5000 Hz with a piezoelectric driver and air at 1 atmosphere. The stack is unusual in that it is made of random fibers which can provide an enormous surface area for interaction, with the sound field. At each end of the stack heat was transferred using copper heat exchangers. A temperature difference of 50 C was produced for sound levels of 160 dB at the stack The cooling power of this device was in the range of 0.4 to 1 watt. High frequency operation leads to a large critical temperature gradient across the stack of l25 deg C/cm, which opens up the possibility of producing very low temperatures in suitable geometries. The impressive performance of our device demonstrates its potential for refrigeration of small objects, such as high speed electronic components and biologica samples. The device is compact (3.5 cm long), simple, and it can be interfaced to microelectronics for heat removal applications.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 05, 1999
Accession Number
ADA361507

Entities

People

  • Orest G. Symko

Organizations

  • University of Utah

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Atmospheres
  • Boundary Layer
  • Climate Change
  • Critical Temperature
  • Electronic Components
  • Frequency
  • Frequency Response
  • Geometry
  • Heat Exchangers
  • Heat Transfer
  • Heat Transmission
  • High Pressure
  • Low Temperature
  • Prandtl Number
  • Standing Waves
  • Temperature Gradients
  • Thermal Conductivity

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • Acoustics.
  • Combustion and Flow Dynamics.
  • Thermal Physics or Thermal Science.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Microelectromechanical Systems