Thermoacoustics: A Unifying Perspective for Some Engines and Refrigerators

339 Pages·2017·8.46 MB·English

by  Gregory W. Swift (auth.)

Gregory W. Swift
Thermoacoustics
A Unifying Perspective for Some Engines
and Refrigerators
Second Edition
Thermoacoustics

Gregory W. Swift
Thermoacoustics
A Unifying Perspective for Some Engines
and Refrigerators
Second Edition
123
GregoryW.Swift
LosAlamosNationalLaboratory
LosAlamos
NewMexico,USA
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EditorialBoard
MarkF.Hamilton(Chair),UniversityofTexasatAustin
JamesCottingham,CoeCollege
DianaDeutsch,UniversityofCalifornia,SanDiego
TimothyF.Duda,WoodsHoleOceanographicInstitution
RobinGlosemeyerPetrone,ThresholdAcoustics
WilliamM.Hartmann(ExOfficio),MichiganStateUniversity
JamesF.Lynch(ExOfficio),WoodsHoleOceanographicInstitution
PhilipL.Marston,WashingtonStateUniversity
ArthurN.Popper(ExOfficio),UniversityofMaryland
MartinSiderius,PortlandStateUniversity
AndreaM.Simmons,BrownUniversity
NingXiang,RensselaerPolytechnicInstitute
WilliamYost,ArizonaStateUniversity
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Preface
I’mthrilledbythepowerdensityandefficiencyrecentlyachievedbythermoacoustic
enginesandrefrigerators,andI’mfascinatedbysomeofthelatestdevelopmentsin
thermoacoustics: mixture separation via oscillating thermal diffusion [1, 2], self-
excitedoscillatingheatpipes(“Akachi”orbubble-drivenheatpipes)(Seealmostall
ofthepapersinSessionsB6andB7intheProceedingsofthe11thInternationalHeat
Pipe Conference, 12–16 September 1999, Musashinoshi Tokyo, Japan, sponsored
by the Japan Association for Heat Pipes and by Seikei University), and deliberate
superposition of steady flow [3, 4]. At night I often dream of a future world in
which thermoacoustics is widely practiced. One dream had linear-motor-driven
thermoacousticheatpumpsatopthehot-waterheatersinhalfthehomesinPhoenix,
pumpingheatfromroomairintothehotwater—theproductionofalittlecoolingin
the homes was a nice by-product. Another dream featured a small thermoacoustic
system next to the liquid-nitrogen and liquid-oxygen dewars in the back of our
local hospital. This system had a thermoacoustic engine, heated by combustion
ofnaturalgas,drivingseveralpulse-tuberefrigerators,whichprovidedthecooling
necessary to liquefy air, to distill it to produce purified nitrogen and oxygen, and
to reliquefy the pure gases for storage in the dewars. A third dream had hundreds
ofenormouscombustion-poweredthermoacousticnatural-gasliquefiersarrayedon
an offshore platform, using the natural gas (methane) itself as the thermoacoustic
working gas and filling a vacuum-insulated supertanker with cryogenic liquefied
natural gas for transport to distant shores. Yet another dream showed an extensive
thermoacoustic apparatus on Mars—a thermoacoustic engine driven by a small
nuclear reactor produced 100kW of acoustic power, which was piped to assorted
thermoacoustic mixture separators and refrigerators, splitting atmospheric carbon
dioxideandminedfrozenwaterintopureH andO andliquefyingtheseforusein
2 2
fuelcellsoneachofthemanyrobotsscootingaroundbuildingacolonyforeventual
humanhabitation.
Thedreamsarealwaysdifferent,buttheyhavesomefeaturesincommon.First,
theyallfeaturelow-techhardware:bigpipes,weldedsteel,conventionalshell-and-
tube heat exchangers, molded plastic, etc. Second, I know that this simplicity is
deceptive,becausethetechnicalchallengeofdesigningthiseasy-to-buildhardware
vii
viii Preface
isextreme.Third,therearenopeopleinthesedreams,becauseIknowsofewpeople
whoareskilledinthermoacousticengineeringtoday.SoIwakeup,afraidthatnone
ofthiswilleverhappen, afraidthatintegratedthermoacoustic processengineering
isanopportunitythatwillneverhaveachance.SoIgetupandIwriteafewmore
paragraphs of this book, hoping to help newcomers learn basic thermoacoustics
quickly, so they can go on to design, build, and debug wonderful thermoacoustic
systemsofallkinds.
This is an introductory book, not a full review of the current status of the field
of thermoacoustics. It is evolving from the short course that I gave on this subject
at the March 1999 Berlin acoustics meeting. The hardware examples used here to
illustratetheelementaryprinciplesarethermoacousticsapparatusdevelopedatLos
Alamos or with our close collaborators, and the mathematical approach to the gas
dynamicsandpowerflowscloselyfollowsthatpioneeredbyNikolausRott.(Time
pressureinducesmetostickwithtopicsmostfamiliartome!And,indeed,theLos
Alamos approach to thermoacoustics has been quite successful.) Many aspects of
thermoacousticswillbeintroduced,inanattempttohelpthereaderacquirebothan
intuitiveunderstandingandtheabilitytodesignhardware,buildit,anddiagnoseits
performance.
At Los Alamos, we have found it most productive to stay focused on exper-
imental and development hardware while maintaining several abstract points of
viewincludingphasordisplayofacousticvariables,anintuitivelyappealingpicture
of gas motion, and an entropy-generation perspective on the second law of
thermodynamics. Intuition is important because it helps us humans organize our
thoughts. Mathematics is unavoidable, because it is the common language with
which scientists and engineers communicate and it allows us to interpolate and
extend our knowledge quantitatively. But experiment is the source of all real
truth, so the experiments are our most important and time-consuming activity at
LosAlamos.Weavingintuition,mathematics,andexperimentalresultstogetherin
this book, I will put a strong emphasis on the mathematics, because without this
common vocabulary, we can get nowhere. Intuition gets second-highest emphasis,
as appropriate for an introductory treatment. Experimental results get the least
emphasis in this text. But please remember that the mathematical and intuitive
discussionspresentedhereareactuallydistillationsofmanyexperimentsspanning
manydecadesthroughouttheworld.
Many readers will find that they have only part of the background needed to
learn thermoacoustics. Mechanical engineers and chemical engineers may have
insufficient acoustics background. They should study an introductory treatment
like Chaps.5–10 (and perhaps 14) in Fundamentals of Acoustics by Kinsler, Frey,
Coppens, and Sanders [5]. Acousticians, on the other hand, may need to study
somethinglikethefirsthalfofFundamentalsofClassicalThermodynamicsbyVan
p
WylenandSonntag[6].Someoneforwhomtheexpressioni D (cid:2)1isunfamiliar
mustbeginwithareviewofcomplexarithmeticinanengineeringmathematicstext
suchasAdvancedEngineeringMathematicsbyKreyszig[7].Thereismuchtolearn,
sobepatient.
Preface ix
We are all deeply indebted to the Office of Basic Energy Sciences (OBES) in
the US Department of Energy (DOE) for its steady, patient, dependable financial
support of fundamental thermoacoustics research, dating back 20 years to when
the late John Wheatley first led us in this direction. Working with the postdocs
and students supported by OBES/DOE to study these oscillating thermodynamic
systems at Los Alamos—Vince Kotsubo, John Brisson, Jeff Olson, Mike Hayden,
BobReid,PhilSpoor,BobHiller,ScottBackhaus,BartSmith,andDrewGeller—
has taught me most of what I know about thermoacoustics and about how people
learnthisdifficultsubject.TheengineeringandtechnicalskillandcreativityofBill
Ward,DavidGardner,andChrisEspinoza,andBill’ssophisticatedcomputerskills,
havebeenindispensable,tomakerapidprogressandtokeepourunderstandingof
thermoacousticsrealisticallygroundedinexperimentalhardware.
Finally, thank you Sharon Dogruel, for your brainstorming, steady encourage-
ment, and patience through a year of long days, no whole weekends, and too few
holidays.IwishIcouldpromisethatitwon’thappenagain.
LosAlamos,NM,USA GregoryW.Swift
1999
Addendum, 2001: Now I must add thanks to the many individuals who have
reported typos, math errors, and sources of confusion during the year the “fourth
draft”hasbeenwidelyavailable.MygreatestdebtbyfarisduetoRobertKeolian
andhis2000thermoacousticsclassatPennStateUniversity,whosuggestedacouple
hundred important improvements, including especially a total reorganization and
greatexpansionofwhatarenowthefirstthreechapters.
Addendum, 2017: This new edition by ASA and Springer gives me the oppor-
tunity to fix a few small errors that were present in all previous printings. The
thermal-mixing entry in the table in Sect.6.1 was incorrect. (Thanks to Robert
Keolian for finding that error.) Figures 4.5 and 4.15 and Eq.(7.81) had typos, and
some signs in Fig.4.22 were wrong. “Newton” was incorrectly abbreviated as Nt
insteadofN.Fontsinsomefigureshavebeenimproved,andsomepunctuationhas
been improved. Two good Stirling-engine historical references have been added.
The DELTAE files that were in the Appendix have been upgraded to the newer
DELTAECformat,withoutsignificantchangeinnumericalresults.
Minor changes in wording throughout have made line breaks and page breaks
compatible with this new, smaller page format. Color figures have been added,
andinternalhyperlinkshavebeenaddedinthee-bookversion.Theaccompanying
computeranimations,introducedinSect.1.3,havebeenupgradedforcompatibility
withmodernoperatingsystems.Toobtaintheanimations,seeSect.1.3.