Thermoacoustic refrigerator

Patent · Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1997

OSTI ID:871165

Moss, William C ^[1]

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1. San Mateo, CA

A thermoacoustic device having a thermal stack made from a piece of porous material which provides a desirable ratio of thermoacoustic area to viscous area, which has a low resistance to flow, which minimizes acoustic streaming and which has a high specific heat and low thermal conductivity is disclosed. The thermal stack is easy and cheap to form and it can be formed in small sizes. Specifically, in one embodiment, a thermal stack which is formed by the natural structure of a porous material such as reticulated vitreous carbon is disclosed. The thermal stack is formed by machining a block of reticulated vitreous carbon into the required shape of the thermal stack. In a second embodiment, a micro-thermoacoustic device is disclosed which includes a thermal stack made of a piece of porous material such as reticulated vitreous carbon. In another embodiment, a heat exchanger is disclosed which is formed of a block of heat conductive open cell foam material.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• Assignee: Regents of University of California (Oakland, CA)
• Patent Number(s): US 5673561
• OSTI ID: 871165
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

thermoacoustic
refrigerator
device
thermal
stack
piece
porous
material
provides
desirable
ratio
viscous
resistance
flow
minimizes
acoustic
streaming
specific
heat
conductivity
disclosed
easy
cheap
form
formed
sizes
specifically
embodiment
natural
structure
reticulated
vitreous
carbon
machining
block
required
shape
micro-thermoacoustic
exchanger
conductive
cell
foam
vitreous carbon
specific heat
cell foam
foam material
porous material
thermal conductivity
heat exchange
heat exchanger
heat conductive
acoustic refrigerator
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