Effect of Copper Mesh at Interface between Stack and Heat Source in Thermoacoustic Cooling System.

The structure of the stack in the prime mover, the energy conversion part from heat energy to sound energy, is examined to improve the thermoacoustic cooling performance of the loop tube cooling system. In this system, the stack is the most important device. When the heat flux gradient within it is increased, the strong sound intensity is realized. The metallic materials are attached on top of the honeycomb ceramic stack as the active areas for the heat source to improve the energy conversion from heat energy to sound energy. Because of the high heat conductivity of the metallic material, copper is used for experiments described in this report. Compared with that of the ceramic, the increased heat flux is realized by multiplying the heat conductivity and the temperature gradient. Results confirmed that the amount of heat flux in the stack increases with the use of metallic materials. Experimental results show that the efficiency of the energy conversion almost doubles using the presented structure of the stack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]