Thermal entrance effects in a thermoacoustic stacked screen regenerator

Simon Bühler, D wilcox, Joris Oosterhuis, Theodorus H. van der Meer

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Abstract

Thermoacoustic cryocoolers are of raising interest because they are cost effective and reliable. The underlying heat pumping process occurs in the regenerator, where a sound wave interacts with a solid matrix material. Stacked screens are frequently used to build regenerators for thermoacoustic applications because of their favorable thermal properties and vast mesh sizes. One dimensional codes are commonly used for estimating the performance of thermoacoustic cryocoolers. While these codes are a useful tool in thermoacoustic device design, they do not incorporate entrance effects at the extremities of the regenerator or the resulting convective effects. In this paper these effects are investigated by means of a full Navier-Stokes solution of the flow and heat transfer in a geometrical reduced model of a regenerator. It is shown that convective effects play a role at low pressure amplitudes. A convection driven heat pumping process occurring at the extremities of the regenerator is described. Furthermore, a geometrical study is conducted to estimate the optimal opening of the stacked screen for ideal heat transfer.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 15th International Heat Transfer Conference, IHTC-15, August 10-15, 2014, Kyoto, Japan
Place of PublicationKyoto, Japan
Pages-
Publication statusPublished - 10 Aug 2014
Event15th International Heat Transfer Conference, IHTC-15 2014 - Kyoto, Japan
Duration: 10 Aug 201415 Aug 2014
Conference number: 15
http://www.ihtc-15.org/

Conference

Conference15th International Heat Transfer Conference, IHTC-15 2014
Abbreviated titleIHTC
Country/TerritoryJapan
CityKyoto
Period10/08/1415/08/14
Internet address

Keywords

  • METIS-308832
  • IR-96523

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