Thermoacoustic refrigeration

Journal Article · Tue Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 1992 · ASHRAE Journal (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers); (United States)

OSTI ID:6678465

Garrett, S L; Hofler, T J ^[1]

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1. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA (United States)

Shortly after their introduction, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used as working fluids in a vapor compression (Rankine) refrigeration cycle became dominant in almost all small and medium-scale food refrigerator/freezer and building/residential air-conditioning applications. That situation is about to change dramatically and, at this moment, unpredictably. Two recent events are responsible for the new era in refrigeration that will dawn before the beginning of the 21st Century. The most significant of these is the international ban on the production of CFCs which were found to be destroying the Earth's protective ozone layer. The second event was the discovery of high temperature superconductors and the development of high speed and high density electronic circuits that require active cooling. It is the purpose of this article to introduce an entirely new approach to refrigeration that was first discovered in the early 1980s. This new approach-thermoacoustic refrigeration-uses high intensity sound waves to pump heat, with inert gases as the working fluid.

• OSTI ID: 6678465
• Journal Information: ASHRAE Journal (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers); (United States), Vol. 34:12; ISSN 0001-2491
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CHLOROFLUOROCARBONS
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
POLLUTION REGULATIONS
TOXICITY
COOLING SYSTEMS
ENERGY SOURCES
CRYOPUMPS
RELIABILITY
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
SOUND WAVES
USES
VAPOR COMPRESSION REFRIGERATION CYCLE
WORKING FLUIDS
AIR CONDITIONING
AVAILABILITY
HEAT PUMPS
RANKINE CYCLE
REFRIGERATORS
BUILDINGS
EQUIPMENT
FLUIDS
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
LABORATORY EQUIPMENT
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC FLUORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
PUMPS
REGULATIONS
THERMODYNAMIC CYCLES
VACUUM PUMPS
290300* - Energy Planning & Policy- Environment
Health
& Safety
320106 - Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization- Building Equipment- (1987-)
540120 - Environment
Atmospheric- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
293000 - Energy Planning & Policy- Policy
Legislation
& Regulation