Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 626–634

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

Performance analysis of the standing wave thermoacoustic

refrigerator: A review
Nor Atiqah Zolpakar a, Normah Mohd-Ghazali a,n, Mawahib Hassan El-Fawal b
a
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
b
Faculty of Engineering & Technical Studies, University of Kordofan, 11111 Elobied, Sudan

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Concerns over environmental impacts of hazardous refrigerants have spurred much research into
Received 7 May 2015 alternative technologies as well as more environmentally friendly refrigerants. A thermoacoustic
Received in revised form refrigeration system uses no refrigerant but is currently not a feasible solution due to the still immature
8 July 2015
technology with much still unknown about the theories that explain the thermoacoustc cooling effects
Accepted 19 October 2015
and the desired performance. This paper reviews past studies to achieve the desired outputs; lowest
Available online 11 November 2015
temperature, the highest temperature difference generated across the stack, the lowest acoustical work
Keywords: required for cooling, or/and the highest coefficient of performance (COP) of the standing wave ther-
Environmentally friendly moacoustic refrigerator and various attempts at optimization in terms of the many parameters that
Thermoacoustic refrigeration
represent the outcomes. The review looked at methods employed to analyze the performance with
Desired output
discussions on the relevant parameters that must and have been be considered by past researchers. To
Performance
Optimization date, most studies have been focused on the stack, the heart of the system. Optimization work has been
performed parametrically, experimentally or/and numerically, where discrete variations of the para-
meters investigated are completed whilst others are held constant. Lately, genetic algorithm, a statistical
approach, has been utilized in simultaneous optimization of the parameters of the desired outputs where
conflicting objectives are possible. To date, thermoacoustic refrigerator remains an attractive alternative
technology towards a global agenda of a more sustainable future.
& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627
2. General review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627
3. Comparative study. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630
3.1. Stack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630
3.1.1. Stack geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630
3.1.2. Stack material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631
3.1.3. Stack length and position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631
3.2. Working fluid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631
3.3. Resonator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631
3.4. Frequency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632
3.5. Average pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632
4. The analysis methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632
5. Optimization scheme. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632

n
Corresponding author. Tel.: þ 60 75534577; fax: þ 60 75566159.
E-mail address: [email protected] (N. Mohd-Ghazali).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.10.018
1364-0321/& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 N.A. Zolpakar et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 626–634 627

6. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633

1. Introduction [7], the thermoacoustic systems are generally characterized by

their low performance and unknown technology. Most of the
The studies on thermoacoustics have continued for more than research is in the United States with others scattered among uni-
two hundred years, since that first observation of heat induced versities in Europe and China.
acoustic oscillations by Byron Higgins in 1777. Thermoacoustic Optimization of energy-related system has never been more
phenomena, the solid–fluid interactions which involve heat crucial today where energy sources are depleting and global
pumping mechanism of the working fluid are capable of either concerns of degradation of our environment are of serious agenda.
generating acoustical work or inducing a cooling effect. However, There is no review available on the analysis of the performance of
the theoretical basis for thermoacoustic phenomena was only the thermoacoustic refrigeration system, possibly due to the still
established in 1969 through 1980 in a series of papers presented much to be known about the theory explaining the phenomena
by Rott and his co-researchers. The issues addressed included [1]: itself as well as the small community of researchers involved. The
lack of fundamental understanding in this “young” technology, the
 Thermoacoustic and its meaning. relatively low number of researchers involved, and the associated
 Categories of thermoacoustic devices. cost needed to be invested, should not discourage future
 Attempts to calculate the effect of thermoacoustic streaming. researchers from venturing into this area. As much as possible
 Stability theory to define optimum effectiveness of the driving should be done towards assisting the global need for alternative
mechanism. solutions for a sustainable future. Thus, this paper presents an
 The relationship between the heat flux, acoustic pressure and overview of the studies completed to date on the standing wave
velocity of an isothermal and adiabatic tube. thermoacoustic refrigeration systems, some focused on the stack
 The theories of Kirchhoff and Kramers to develop a linearized which is the heart of the system, while others were on the whole
thermoacoustic theory for cylindrical tubes. system, as shown in Table 1. Unlike the conventional review done
in the past i.e., each whole paragraph dedicated to explore a single
The international attempts to conserve the earth's stratospheric study, this review is tabulated for an easier understanding of past
protective ozone layer led in 1997 by the Montreal Protocol (MP) work. The research method used, parameters addressed and out-
had prompted intensive research into alternative more envir- comes achieved listed in the table will help future researchers to
onmentally friendly technology. In consequence of MP's regula- quickly identify areas that efforts can be better concentrated in
tions, the manufacture, import, export, use, transit shipment, sale certain aspects towards a comprehensive study of the perfor-
and offer for sale of any Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), Hydro- mance of the thermoacoustic refrigeration system.
chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) or products that contain CFCs and
HCFCs have been first prohibited and then banned in 2000 [2],
except those that are already in use (in under-developed and 2. General review
developing countries). The CFCs have been used as refrigerants in
conventional thermodynamics refrigeration, air conditioning sys- When the first successful thermoacoustic refrigerator with a
tems and heat pumps. The banning of CFCs along with the cooling power of 6 W was introduced by Hofler in 1986 [7], the
awareness of their harmful destructive effects on the ozone cooling technology began to be considered as a potential alter-
depletion appeals the interest of researchers to find new envir- native to the vapor compression system. The standing wave sys-
onmentally benign technologies. Thermoacoustic refrigerating tem operated at 10.2 bar with Helium gas as the working fluid.
system could be a possible alternative to the conventional systems Thermoacoustic refrigeration involves no refrigerant which ren-
since it contains no refrigerant at all. The primary working fluid is ders it an environmentally friendly system, an attractive technol-
inert whilst the secondary medium which transfers the heat ogy in a global agenda towards a sustainable future. However,
between the cooling load and the environment via the heat almost 30 years have passed and the closest a commercial ther-
exchangers is a solid of low conductivity. moacoustic refrigerator that we could get was in 2004 when
Thermoacoustic refrigeration operates based on the funda- Poesse, Garret and Smith from the Pennsylvania State University,
mental thermodynamic heat pump where work is necessary – in USA, collaborated with Ben & Jerry's ice-cream company to
this case acoustical work – to transfer heat from a low temperature develop a system with a cooling power of 119 W using Helium at
reservoir to a high temperature reservoir. At resonant frequency, 10 atm pressure [70]. It took the team one year to complete the
as the working fluid particles oscillate next to solid walls, sig- system with a million dollar sponsorship from Unilever Company
nificant cooling effects are induced as heat is moved from one end [Garret, SL, personal communication, September, 2009].
of the solid wall to the other. At high pressure and with appro- The two main issues related to the commercialization of the
priately designed solid structure called the stack, placed in the thermoacoustic refrigerator are the technology and the associated
path of the oscillating working fluid particles, considerable cost, both being inter-related. The know-how of the development
amount of cooling could be harnessed, examples are works by of a fully functioning system involves much time and diligence
Minner et al. [3], Reid and Swift [4], Tijani et al. [5], and Hariharan from participating researchers and institutions with consistently
et al. [6] just to name a few. Two types of thermoacoustic refrig- low performance output that is hardly encouraging for potential
eration are possible, that based on the traveling wave which is financial investors. Only a collectively small group of researchers
generally a large system, and the standing wave type, a more have the staying power going by the repeated appearance of
compact system. Unfortunately, with the hype started over the names in the citations of published work. No system parallel to the
environmentally friendly thermoacoustic refrigeration systems Ben & Jerry system has been reported since. Nevertheless,
after the first cooler was developed by Hofler in his Ph.D. thesis experimental and numerical research has continued towards the
 628
Table 1
Summary of previous work on standing wave thermoacoustic refrigerator.

Author Method Stack geometry Stack material Resonator Resonator Resonator material Working fluid Outcome
geometry length

Worlikar et al. [8] Numerical (stack) – – Circular λ/2 – – Improved temperature

Minner et al. [3] Numerical (stack ) Parallel, Spiral Kapton Circular – – He, He–xe Improved COP
Wetzel and Herman [9] Theory (stack and HX) Parallel Mylar Circular λ/2 Copper He–xe,He–kr He– λ/4 is better
Ar, He
Wetzel and Herman [10] Experiment (stack) Parallel Transparent material Rectangular λ/2 Copper Air Improved temperature
Raspet et al. [11] Numerical Parallel – – – – – Improved temperature
Worlikar et al. [12] Numerical (Stack) – – Circular λ/2 – – Plot
Wetzel and Herman [13] Experiment (Stack) Single plate – – – – – Evaluate heat transfer at
stack
Hiller and Swift [14] Experiment (Stack) Parallel Fiberglass Circular λ/8 PVC Air Improved temperature

N.A. Zolpakar et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 626–634
Yong and Kim [15] Experiment (Stack) Celcor Ceramic Circular λ/2 PVC Air Optimum stack position
Wetzel and Herman [16] Experiment (Stack) Parallel – Rectangular λ/2 – Air Plot
Reid and Swift [4] Experiment (Stack) Parallel Fiberglass Circular λ PVC He–Ar Improved COP
Ward and Swift [17] Numerical – – Circular – – DELTAE
Yougu et al. [18] Experiment Rolled-up Polyester film Circular – He–Ar Improved frequency
Tijani et al. [19] Experiment Parallel Mylar 2-diameter λ/4 POM Ertacetal, Al He–Ar,He–Kr, Improved working fluid
He–xe
Tijani et al. [20] Numerical (Stack, Parallel Mylar 2 diameter λ/4 POM Ertacetal, Al He Improved COP
resonator)
Tijani et al. [5] Experiment (System) Parallel Mylar 2 diameter λ/4 POM Ertacetal, Al He–Ar, He–Kr, Improved temperature
He–Xe
Tijani et al. [21] Experiment (stack) Parallel Mylar 2 diameter λ/4 POM Ertacetal, Al He Optimum plate spacing
Russel and Weibull [22] Experiment (System) Spiral Film Circular λ/2 Acrylic Air Plot
Marx and Benon [23] Numerical (Stack) Parallel – – λ/2 – – Mean velocity at stack
Fathi Jebali, 2004 [24] Numerical and Parallel Mylar Circular – Brass – Plot
experiment
Marx and Benon [25] Numerical (Stack) Parallel – – λ/2 – – Plot
Zootjent et al. [26] Experiment Parallel Mylar 2 diameter λ/2, λ/4 He, Air Design and construction
Zootjent et al. [27] Application at car – – – – – Inert gases Alternative energy
Bammann et al. [28] Review – – – – – – Review TAR
Zootjent et al. [29] Numerical (Stack) – – 2 diameter – – He Optimization of inertance
part
Jensen et al. [30] Numerical (Stack) – Stainless steel, Mylar – – – – Plot
Marx et al. [31] Experiment – – Rectangular λ/4 Perspex – Plot
(Loudspeaker)
Herman and Chen [32] Analytical (HX) Single plate Mylar – – – He, Air Improved HX geometry
Emmanuel et al. [33] Experiment (HX) Parallel Al, Copper 2-diameter λ/4 He Plot
Insu et al. [34] Numerical – – 2-diameter λ/4 – He–Ar Improved COP
Masoud et al. [35] Experiment (Stack) Parallel Mylar Circular λ/2 Acrylic Air Impact of gas blockage
Sawantit et al. [36] Numerical (System) – – – – – – Optimized COPR
Poignand et al. [37] Numerical and Parallel PVC – λ/2 – Air Optimum acoustic field
experiment
Babaei and Kamran [38] Numerical (Stack) – – Circular λ/2, λ/4 – – Plot
Wu et al. [39] Numerical (Stack) Parallel – Circular λ/2, λ/4 – – Improved plate spacing
Zink et al. [40] Numerical (Stack) Parallel Al, Co, Steel, PMMA, – – – Air Improved COP
SiO2
Lotton et al. [41] Numerical and Experi- Porous material Ceramic Rectangular λ/2 Acrylic Air Evaluate temperature
ment (Stack) archive
Han et al. [42] Numerical (Stack, HX) Parallel – Circular λ/2 – Air, Ar Plot
Tasnim and Fraser [43] Numerical (HX) Parallel Glass Circular λ/4 – Air Plot
Ikhsan Setiawan et al. [44] Experiment (Stack) Parallel Mylar Circular λ/2 PVC Air Plot
Zink et al. [45] Numerical Parallel – – λ/4 – Air Plot
Campo et al. [46] Theoretical – – – – – He, N2, Xe CO2, Estimate minimum Pr
CH4, SF6
Tasnim et al. [47] Experiment (Stack) Celcor Ceramic Circular λ/4 Pyrex Air Plot
Tasnim et al. [48] Numerical and Experi- Porous material Copper, RVC,Al Circular λ/4 Pyrex He, Air Plot
ment (Stack)
Wantha and Assawamartbunlue Experiment (Resonator) Spiral Mylar Circular λ/4 Acrylic Air Improved resonator
[49] length
Dhuley and Atrey [50] Theoretical and – – Circular λ/2 Stainless steel He, N2 Plot
Experiment
Hariharan et al. [51] Experiment (Stack) Parallel – Circular λ/4 Stainless steel Air Plot
Tasnim et al. [52] Experiment (Stack) Celcor, RVC, honeycomb, Ceramic, Al Stainless Circular λ/4 Pyrex Air Improved stack geometry
hexagon, spiral steel
Tasnim et al. [53] Numerical (Pr) Parallel He–xe, He Improved COP
Piccolo [54] Numerical (System) Parallel Stainless steel Circular λ/2 – He Improved working fluid
Dong et al. [55] Experiment (Stack) Parallel – Square λ/4 Plexiglas Air Plot
Hariharan et al., 2013 [6] Experiment (System) Parallel, Spiral Mylar, Film He Improved ΔT
Hariharan and Sivashanmugam Numerical and experi- Spiral Mylar Circular – Fiber reinforced Air Ls, xs relation to COP
[56] ment (Stack) plastic tested

N.A. Zolpakar et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 626–634
Prashantha et al. [57] Theoretical (Loudspeaker) Parallel – – – He Improved COP
Ikhsan Setiawan et al. [58] Experiment (Stack) Parallel Mylar Circular Air Improve plate spacing
Nandy Putra and Dinni Agustina Experiment (Stack) Parallel Acrylic sheet Circular λ/4 Acrylic Air Improved temperature
[59] different
Chen et al. [60] Experiment Rolled Mylar Circular – Acrylic Air Obtained ΔT
Alahmer et al. [61] Experiment and Parallel Plastic 2 diameter λ/4 Copper He Simulation of TAR
Numerical
Rao et al. [62] Experiment (System) Spiral Film Circular λ/2 Acrylic Air Improved COP
Guilio Allesina [63] Experiment Parallel, Rolled Film Circular λ/4 PVC Air Obtained ΔT
Ge Huan et al. [64] Experiment (Stack) Parallel, pipe, mesh Copper Circular λ/4 – Air Verified stack geometry
Tartibu et al. [65] Numerical (Stack) – Mylar – – – He Improved COP
Zolpakar et al. [66] Numerical (Stack) Parallel Mylar – λ/4 – He Improved COP
Zolpkar et al. [67] Numerical (Stack) Parallel Mylar – λ/4 – He Improved COP
Zolpakar et al. [68] Numerical (Stack) Parallel Mylar – λ/4 – He Improved COP
Namdar et al. [69] Numerical Single plate – – λ/2 – Air Improved COP

629
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understanding of the thermoacoustic phenomena desired for the consider as many parameters to be optimized as desired with
cooling effects, considering aspects that could affect the perfor- objective functions that are possibly conflicting in their combined
mance, and the extent and significance of those effects. A recent effects. In the following section, the different aspects of these
study by Namdar et al. [69] is a two-dimensional numerical previous studies have been organized in a comparative study form
approach to simulating a domain enclosing a single stack plate and to provide a general understanding on the development of the
the neighboring heat exchangers. The performance reported is still optimization of the thermoacoustic refrigerator.
low showing the importance of the input power and locations of
the heat exchangers.
Optimization studies in thermoacoustics are few due to the 3. Comparative study
relatively immature technology particularly in its practical appli-
cations. Focus has been much into the operational issues and In this section, 69 selected articles dating from 1996 to 2015
towards the understanding of the phenomenon. The work is spe- engaged in experimental, analytical, and numerical optimization
cific on either the optimization of the geometric parameters or methods were chosen to identify the different research with the
the operating parameters. Fig. 1 shows the direction of the opti- methodologies employed for analyzing and optimizing the
mization of the thermoacoustic refrigerator (TAR) to date which performance-as defined by the researchers-of the standing wave
clearly shows that optimization work has focused on individual thermoacoustic refrigerator. Table 1 describes the aspects exam-
components. Most of the optimization studies reported to date ined by researchers, which are discussed in the following sections.
have been on the stack, the heart of the thermoacoustic system
3.1. Stack
where thermoacousic effects take place. Other investigations
[4,18,19,27,29,34,48,50,47,61] were done on the stack material and
Stack is the most important part of a thermoacoustic system.
geometry in combination with the usual inert gases as the working
The transfer of heat from a low temperature to a high temperature
fluid, in the quarter wavelength resonator desirable due to the
heat source occurs via this secondary medium, a solid. As the heat
reduced losses on the walls compared to longer ones. Using the
is carried from one heat source to another, it is temporarily stored
parametric approach where discrete variations of the parameters
in the stack during the final stage of the compression (pressure
to be optimized are completed with all other parameters fixed,
antinode) or expansion (pressure node) cycle of the oscillating
experimental and numerical methods have been favored, the latter
fluid particles. The heat transfer between the gas and the plate
particularly with the thermoacoustic software DeltaE [17]. The last
occurs within a thermal penetration depth (thermal boundary
three years have seen an interest in the evolutionary algorithm for
layer) where pure conduction takes place. To get the greatest
optimization with a faster outcome producing a global minimum/ amount of cooling, a large heat transfer area should be used.
maximum [51,65,66,67,68]. The relatively new approach is able to Therefore, the stack is generally made of many solid walls that are
separated by 2δk to 4δk [71].
TAR
3.1.1. Stack geometry
Among past stack geometry employed, the commonly used
ones are the spiral, parallel, honeycomb and corning celcor types,
Operating parameters Geometry parameters
optimization
as shown in Fig. 2. The main objective for the stack geometry
optimization
selection is to increase the thermal boundary layer surrounding
the solid walls where thermoacoustic effects can occur favorably.
Frequency [18, 24, 50, 60], Stack position [14,19, 35, 39, 47,67,68],
The desired separation gap between the solid walls has been
Pressure [4, 50], temperature Stack length [55,67,68], stack spacing
gradient [29, 30] [21,35,48, 51,67,68], stack geometry [20, reported to be between 2 and 4 thermal penetrations depths
Working fluid [19, 46, 53] 47,51, 55] Stack thickness [39, 51, 67], [21,51,71]. If the walls of the stack are too close, gas parcels cannot
stack material [47, 51, 55, 58, pass through the stack efficiently since the viscous properties of
59],Resonator length[20,49,51, 55] the working fluid prevent the working fluid from oscillating. If the
walls are too far apart, effective heat transfer between the gas
packets and stack walls cannot occur effectively. It would seem
Combination of Geometry and that the pin-array stack with its large amount of thermal boundary
Operating parameters
optimization [66] layers per unit area of solid wall would be ideal [72], as supported
by the Rott's function. The ease of fabrication and availability,
Fig. 1. Past optimization parameters of standing wave thermoacoustic refrigerator. however, weighs down on the final decision of the selected stack

Fig. 2. Different stack geometries utilized in the previous studies (a) spiral [22] (b) parallel plate [73] (c) honeycomb and (d) corning celcor [52].
 N.A. Zolpakar et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 626–634 631

parcel velocity. This product is zero at the pressure and velocity

nodes, which occur at the beginning, middle and end of the
resonator. The optimum position depends on careful estimation of
viscous and thermal relaxation losses. These in turn depend on the
Reynolds number, channel width, thermal penetration depth,
length and surface roughness in the channels, and all the minor
losses in the resonator when the flow cross-sectional area changes.
Typically, the stack is placed closer to the pressure anti-node than
to the pressure node in order to increase the efficiency by reducing
the viscous losses, which is proportional to the square of the gas
parcel velocity. The stack position shows another aspect of the
trade-off between a high power density and high conversion
Fig. 3. Properties of stack materials [74]. efficiency. The former requires a high acoustic velocity and a stack
closer to the speaker, whilst the latter requires a low acoustic
geometry, as shown in Table 1. Most optimization studies utilized velocity and a stack farther away from the speaker. Swift [75]
the parallel and the readily available ceramic celcor stack stated that the optimized stack center position should be at
[10,28,48,57]. lambda/20, as measured away from the pressure antinode which is
generally where the acoustic driver is located. However, Tijani [76]
3.1.2. Stack material found that the optimized center position is actually λ/8. Other
The most commonly used effective material for the stack has researchers have discovered that their center location falls
been Mylar and Celcor ceramic [74]. Other materials have also between these two quantities. These positions are dependent on
been investigated such as fiber glass [4,14], glass [48] Aluminum the stack length.
[48,53], copper [48], stainless steel [54] and RVC [48,53]. The
desired properties in a standing wave thermoacoustic stack are 3.2. Working fluid
low thermal conductivity and high heat capacity. This is because
axial conduction in the stack is undesirable but the heat retention The inert gases have been identified as the best working fluid
should be high. Fig. 3 lists the properties of the most common for the thermoacoustic refrigerator [28], and this has been the
stack material, RVC being the latest stack material being explored. pulling power of thermoacoustic refrigeration technology, causing
The stack material should be easily fabricated into as thin a no hazardous effects on our environment. Cooling power is pro-
thickness as possible to eliminate a temperature difference across portional to sound velocity in gas. The higher is the sound velocity,
the thickness. Non-isotropic material is a possibility with a high the larger is the cooling power. The sound velocity in gasses such
thermal conductivity along the thickness and very low otherwise as Helium is high. Furthermore, as the thermal conductivity of the
to reduce conduction along the stack length and thus lower the working gas gets higher, the heat transfer between the oscillating
thermoacoustic effects desired. fluid particles and the stack walls get easier. These results in the
In addition, if the average distance over which the oscillating thickening of the thermal penetration depth desired for cooling
particle travels can be determined, this same distance over the effects. Other types of heavy inert gases like argon and xenon are
stack plate can be specially prepared to reduce/eliminate con- usually blended with helium [3,4,5,9,19,34] to increase the effi-
duction. However, the fabrication may not be as “easy” as it seems ciency of heat transfer within the stack region, as shown in Table 2.
and additional cost that factor in may not be attractive. In addition A small portion of these types of gas increases the Prandtl number.
to the requirements above, due to the extreme temperature that As a result, the friction between the gas and the solid surface
may occur depending on the design criteria, the stack material inside the system decreases and the coefficient of performance of
should be sturdy with a high melting point. the system increases. However, since the sound velocity of these
gases is lower than that of pure helium, the resultant sound
3.1.3. Stack length and position velocity gets smaller and the cooling power of the system
Stack length and position are the two most common variables decreases, thus pure form of the heavy gases is not used.
investigated by researchers, as shown in Table 1. These parameters Air is still widely used as the working fluid because it is easily
are inter-dependent where the increase in the stack length results available for experiments related to investigations of relationship
in the increase of the stack center position, measured away from between design and operating parameters (refer to Table 1).
the acoustic driver. The objective is to increase the thermoacoustic
effects within the stack region. Increasing the stack length 3.3. Resonator
increases the power density since more thermoacoustic interac-
tions occur [75]. However, increasing the length increases the Resonance tube encloses the working fluid, stack, heat
acoustic impedance and the pressure drop, particularly for a dense exchangers, and an acoustical source to generate acoustical power.
The name indicates that the power forced into the tube must be at
stack. Therefore, it is expected to cause a reduction in the COP
beyond a certain length, a lot of research proves this finding
Table 2
[3,9,12,33,47,60,62]. This represents a trade-off between power Working fluid mixtures employed in previous studies.
density and conversion of energy. In another point of view, a
shorter stack is better due to the short stack approximation (λ/2π Authors Years Working fluid
»Lstack), so that the acoustic field is not significantly disturbed by
Garret et al. [77] 1993 Helium–Argon Helium–Xenon
the presence of the stack and the pressure and velocity can be Minner et al. [3] 1996 Helium–Xenon
considered constant over the stack. Wetzel and Herman [9] 1996 Helium–Xenon,Helium–Krypton Helium–
The stack position is controlled by two main factors: the Argon
acoustic power at the mid-stack position, and the viscous and Tijani et al. [19] 2002 Helium–Xenon, Helium–Krypton Helium–
Argon
thermal relaxation losses along the stack channels. The acoustic
Insu et al. [34] 2007 Helium–Xenon
power is the dot product of the acoustic pressure and the gas
632 N.A. Zolpakar et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 626–634

3.5. Average pressure

Since the power density in a thermoacoustic device is propor-

tional to the average pressure, pm [78], it is favorable to choose a
mean operating pressure as large as possible. This is determined
by the mechanical strength of the resonator. On the other hand,
the thermal penetration depth, δk, is inversely proportional to
square root of the operating pressure, so a high pressure results in
a small δk, which means small stack spacing. This makes the
construction difficult. Although a high pressure promises a higher
power density, most of the experimental studies used air at
atmospheric pressure [14,22,25,35,37,43,44,47,49,51,53,55,56,
58,59,62–64] due to the complexity of the design, fabrication, and
tests involved.

4. The analysis methods

The use of different analysis method to determine the max-

imum performance achievable is important in obtaining credible
results. The performance is defined by the lowest temperature
Fig. 4. Types of resonator: (a) half wavelength (b) quarter wavelength with sphere
obtained [5,16,30], the temperature difference generated across
buffer volume (c) two diameter of resonator with sphere buffer volume and (d) two the stack [14,25,30,63], the acoustical work required for cooling
diameter of resonator with conical buffer volume. [66,67,68], or/and the coefficient of performance (COP) [3,4,9,19].
Models such as the stack with a uniform diameter, the stack with
the natural frequency of the enclosure to generate significant two diameters of resonator, and the stack with two diameter-
cooling at the solid walls of the stack. The most common reso- resonator and an attachment of a buffer volume whether conical
nance tubes are the half-wave length and quarter wave length or sphere shape were among the models used by the researchers.
resonators in order to generate a considerable temperature dif- The methods used to date to validate the models are analytical,
ference between the ends of the short stack positioned in the path mathematical, numerical, and experimental methods. Most of the
of the oscillating working fluid particles. The gas inside a resonator experimental results were validated with the DeltaE software
tube can be considered as three different parts; the fluid particles since DeltaE was developed for the specific use in thermoacoustic
adjacent to the plates that transfer heat, those close to the inside system analysis by Ward and Swift [17]. The most common
surface of the resonance tube which has dissipative effects, and experimental results have been in the form of temperature versus
the rest that are adiabatically compressed and expanded. To time graphs as shown in Fig. 5 [48]. The performance of the
reduce the dissipative effects inside the resonance tube, the thermoacoustic refrigerator is based on the lowest temperature
achievable from the system.
quarter wavelength tube is used. Some types of resonator tubes
are shown in Fig. 4.
A half wavelength resonance tube is seen in Fig. 4a [19] while a
quarter wavelength length tubes is shown in Fig. 4b [7]. A Hofler 5. Optimization scheme
resonance tube shown in Fig. 4c [7] has the smallest area by
Many optimization schemes have been employed by previous
having two tubes, one larger than the other, thus the losses in this
investigators in an attempt to obtain the best output for the
system are the lowest. The stack is housed in the larger tube [7].
However, since the buffer volume in the Hofler tube occupies
much space, improvement was obtained by using the cone volume
shown in Fig. 4d [19], now commonly used in thermoacoustic
systems.

3.4. Frequency

The frequency of acoustic standing wave is determined by the

type of gas, the length of resonator and the boundary conditions.
As the power density in the thermoacoustic devices is a linear
function of the acoustic resonance frequency [78], an obvious
choice is thus a high resonance frequency. On the other hand, δk is
inversely proportional to the square root of the frequency which
again implies a stack with very small plate spacing. As a com-
promise between these two effects and the fact that the driver
resonance has to be matched to the resonator resonance for high
efficiency of the driver, most researchers have chosen a frequency
between 300 Hz and 500 Hz [5,6,19–21,57,61–63]. The designer
has to match the mechanical resonance frequency of the speaker
to the acoustic resonance frequency of the resonator. Fig. 5. Temperature against time, a “performance” graph generally presented [41].
 N.A. Zolpakar et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 626–634 633

Table 3
Previous optimization work on thermoacoustic refrigerator.

Authors Optimization method Optimized parameter Outcome

Minner et al. [3] DeltaE Resonator length, Mixture of fluid, frequency Highest COP¼3
Wetzel and Herman [9] Simplified linear model Heat exchanger COPR competitive with commercial refrigerator
Tijani et al. [19] Experiment Stack plate spacing 3δk produce best COP
Zootjeens et al. [29] DeltaE, ANSYS Inertance segment Optimization need to be done to overall system
Sawantit et al. [36] Single-objective GA Stack spacing, stack length GA suitable for optimization of TAR
Poignand et al. [37] Mathematic modeling Acoustic field Optimum acoustic field produce optimal ΔT, Q
Babaei and Kamran [38] Simplified linear model Stack length and position Step to step of optimization work
Zink et al. [40] Nedler–Mead simplex Stack length, L, stack diameter, H H E 1.2 L
Campo et al. [46] Mathematic formulation Working fluid Minimum Pr ¼ 0.6
Picolo [54] 2nd law analysis Plate spacing, stack length, stack position Minimum entropy generation
Hariharan et al. [56] Response surface methodology Stack position, stack length, plate spacing Parameters are inter-dependent
Tartibu et al. [65] Lexicographic multi-objective Stack length, position and plate spacing Combination of parameters with highest COP
Zolpakar et al. [66] Multi-objective genetic algorithm Stack length, position, plate spacing and drive ratio Maximize cooling load and minimize work input

standing wave thermoacoustic refrigerator. Although several pro- Acknowledgments

totypes and working systems have been out, the COPs of these
thermoacoustic refrigeration systems are relatively low compared The authors wish to thank the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia for
to their conventional counter parts. Thus, design optimization of the Research University Grant (GUP) Vot 08H29, throughout the
thermoacoustic refrigeration system is important to make it course of this research.
attractive enough for consideration by the general market. Opti-
mization methods used extensively have been by using parametric
study, either experimentally or/and numerically. The optimized
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