Thermodynamic analysis of a thermoacoustic travelling wave engine
Abstract
Thermoacoustics has become a promising technology to use heat from low temperature sources to drive engines. This study proposes a single-stage thermoacoustic travelling-wave engine for waste-heat recovery at 150°C. All the construction details of such a system are provided. A recently developed configuration of a looped tube with an impedance matching side-branch stub is proposed. A numerical model of the engine is built in DeltaEC software to conduct the simulations. Furthermore, a detailed thermodynamic analysis of the engine is presented, including an energy balance, a description of the basic acoustic parameters in a steady state, as well as a study of a variable load influence on the performance of the engine. The Authors pointed out the necessity of the engine optimization and a proper choice of load related acoustic impedance, which would consider a trade-off between high power and high efficiency. Eventually, a possibility of achieving 40% exergy efficiency of the proposed engine is confirmed.
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Author Biographies
Adam Ruziewicz received his M.Sc. degree in Power Engineering with the following specialization: Renewable Energy Sources at the Faculty of Mechanical and Power Engineering at the Wroclaw University of Science Technology. Currently, he studies further in the same faculty as a PhD candidate carrying out research on thermoacoustic systems. Since 2017, he has been working as a research-didactic assistant at the Department of Thermodynamics, Theory of Machines and Thermal Systems. His main scientific interests include thermoacoustic devices and their possible applications including waste and solar heat utilisation.
Alexander Kruse studied mechanical engineering at TU Dresden with the special field of aerospace engineering. He obtained his Dipl.-Ing.’s degree after researching waste heat utilization with thermoelectric generators for space applications. He graduated in 2012. That same year he started working as a PhD student at the Institute of Aerospace Engineering, TU Dresden, and the Boysen-TU Dresden-Graduiertenkolleg (a doctorate program). He is currently engaged in numerical and experimental research on single- and multi-stage thermoacoustic engines for waste heat recovery applications.
Zbigniew Gnutek received his PhD degree in 1977 at the Department of Thermodynamics at the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, and the same year he became an assistant professor in the same department. In 1997, he received D.Sc. and in 2005 he was conferred on Professor degree. The field of his scientific interests is in general the theory of machines and thermal devices which concerns the problems of cryogenics, volume machines, as well as energy conversions systems. He is also engaged with renewable and waste heat sources and the ORC power generators. He is an author or co-author of 175 scientific publications including 5 books and 1 script. He promoted 11 PhD candidates and was a reviewer for 18 PhD, 4 D.Sc. and 4 Professor promotions. He is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical and Power Engineering.
Copyright (c) 2018 Adam Ruziewicz, Alexander Kruse, Zbigniew Gnutek
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