Modeling, design, and development of novel thermagoustic and therporaoustic systems

想象一下，一台使用环保气体的冰箱，而不是目前对环境有害的CFC（氯氟烃）和HFC（氢氟烃）。想象一下，这台冰箱是如此安静，以至于听不到它。进一步想象一下，昂贵的压缩机被替换为单个运动部件，这使得冰箱固有地坚固和可靠。这样的制冷机存在并且其利用热声学。典型的热声发动机利用低级热源（例如，废热和太阳能）并将其转化为声能。相比之下，典型的热声制冷机利用声源来产生冷却效果。问题是，热声系统目前效率低下，因此它们只在太空或Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream的环境友好型促销等利基应用中找到。 这项研究工作提出了两个新的分支热声，即热声（热磁声）和热声（热多孔声），这是在追求更有效的热声器件的主要步骤。在热声学中，磁力控制热声操作，而在热声学中，声波通过多孔介质传播以提高热声效率。热声和热声器件在几个领域中表现出它们的潜在应用：电子冷却（例如，高频压电冷却器）、低温应用（例如，斯特林低温冷却器）、远程空间应用（例如，NASA的航天飞机）、低温应用（例如，热声-斯特林系统）、制冷（例如，太阳能热声制冷机），和混合系统（例如，热电-热声冷却系统）用于车辆应用。 这项研究的结果将导致更有效的热声装置设计，从而有助于商业化。鉴于热声技术尚处于起步阶段，消费者市场潜力巨大，加拿大有潜力成为这项技术商业化的领导者，特别是如果在加拿大国内取得重大效率突破的话。

Imagine a refrigerator that uses environmentally friendly gases instead of the current environmentally damaging CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) and HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons). Imagine this refrigerator being so quiet that it cannot be heard. Further imagine that the costly compressor is replaced with a single moving part that makes the refrigerator inherently robust and reliable. Such a refrigerator exists and it utilizes thermoacoustics. A typical thermoacoustic engine utilizes a low grade heat source (e.g., waste heat and solar energy) and converts it to acoustic power. In contrast, a typical thermoacoustic refrigerator utilizes an acoustic source to produce a cooling effect. The catch is that thermoacoustic systems are currently inefficient, thus they have only found in niche applications such as in space or in environment friendly promotions by Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. This research work proposes two novel branches of thermoacoustics, namely, thermagoustics (thermal-magnetic-acoustics) and therporaoustics (thermal-porous-acoustics) which represent major steps forward in the pursuit of more efficient thermoacoustic devices. In thermagoustics magnetic force controls thermoacoustic operation while in therporaoustics the acoustic sound waves travel through a porous medium to enhance thermoacoustic efficiencies. Thermagoustic and therporaoustic devices exhibit their potential application in several areas: electronic cooling (e.g., high frequency piezoelectric cooler), low-temperature applications (e.g., Stirling cryo-cooler), remote space applications (e.g., NASA's space shuttle), cryogenic applications (e.g., Thermoacoustic-Stirling system), refrigeration (e.g., solar powered thermoacoustic refrigerator), and hybrid systems (e.g., thermoelectric-thermoacoustic cooling systems) for vehicle applications. The outcomes of this research will lead to more efficient thermoacoustic device designs, thus aiding commercialization. Given the infancy of thermoacoustics and the potential consumer market, Canada has the potential to be a leader in the commercialization of this technology, especially if major efficiency breakthroughs are developed within Canada.