The 4th International Symposium on Engineering, Energy and Environments

8-10 November 2015, Thammasat University, Pattaya Campus, Thailand

Design of a Cascade Thermoacoustic Engine

Patcharin Saechan a*, Isares Dhuchakallayab
a
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Bangsue, Bangkok, 10800, Thailand
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
Thammasat University (Rangsit Campus), Khlong Luang, Pathumthani, 12121, Thailand

Abstract

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This paper presents the design of a cascade thermoacoustic engines which consists of one

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standing wave engine and one travelling wave engine in series. This device is designed to

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meet the energy needs of remote and rural communities where there may be no chance to

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access the electricity grid. Air is the preferred working fluid in this system since it is cheap
and available everywhere. The operating frequency is 70.75 Hz which is corresponding to the
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total length of 3.96 m. The design of the system discussed here is based on linear
thermoacoustic theory using DeltaEC program. The location and geometry of the engine units
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are optimised to achieve the maximum efficiency. So far, the system can provide acoustic
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power up to 140 W which is equivalent to energy conversion efficiency of 15.40%.

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Keywords: Cascade; engine; remote and rural communities; thermoacoustics

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1. Introduction
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Thermoacoustics is an interaction between the heat transfer and oscillation flow of

working fluid within solid boundaries (Swift, 1998). This technology offers a simple structure
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and no moving parts which are beneficial such as high reliability, low cost of manufacture
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and free-maintenance. The inert gasses or pressurised air can be used as the working fluid, so
they are environmentally friendly. Furthermore, they have a potential to utilize low-quality
energy sources for energy recovery, i.e. waste heat, solar energy (De Blok, 2008).
Thermoacoustic devices are generally classified into “engines” and “refrigerators”
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depending on the implementation of the thermoacoustic effect. The thermoacoustic engine

converts thermal energy into acoustic energy. On the other hand, the thermoacoustic
refrigerator utilises an acoustic energy imposed along the solid boundaries to generate the
temperature gradient. In addition, thermoacoustic devices can be also divided into standing
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wave type and travelling wave type depending on the phase difference between acoustic
pressure and acoustic velocity. The former operates with 90 degrees out of phase which is

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +66-0-2587-0026 ext. 415; fax: +66-0-2586-9541 .

E-mail address: patcharin.s@eng.kmutnb.ac.th .

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caused by the irreversible heat transfer between working fluid and solid materials. The
acoustic pressure and velocity of the latter are in phase performing perfect heat transfer which
is the same as the phasing in a Stirling cycle (Swift, 2002).
Due to a higher efficiency of the travelling wave engines over the standing wave engines,
research on the travelling wave devices has been developed rapidly. The well-known
prototype was proposed, yielded 41% of Carnot efficiency (Backhaus & Swift, 2000). It
consists of a loop-tube joined with a long branch resonator. Unfortunately, this toroidal
topology was complicated to manufacture and it brings a circulating second order mass flow,
called as “Gedeon streaming”. It can decrease the efficiency of devices by convecting a large
amount of heat from the hot to cold heat exchangers. This unwanted effect can be suppressed
by applying an asymmetric channel or jet pump into the system. However, it also dissipates
some acoustic power and adds more complexity in fabrication process.
In 2003, a novel cascade thermoacoustic engine was proposed in order to accomplish high
efficiency and reduces the difficulty of fabrication (Gardner & Swift, 2003). It is in straight
line configuration comprising of one standing wave engine and two travelling wave engines
cascading within the high acoustic impedance region. The system operated with 2.4 MPa
mean pressure of argon and 25 Hz of operating frequency. The acoustic power is generated

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from a stack in the standing wave unit, and then amplified in regenerators of the travelling

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wave units. This design combines the advantages of simple configuration and lack of Gedeon

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streaming because of the linear arrangement and provides a high efficiency energy conversion

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due to the several travelling wave stages.

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This paper presents the design of a novel cascade thermoacoustic engine, which consists of
one standing wave engine and one travelling wave engine in series. Such topology is
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preferred here because it not only maintains the advantages of the cascade topology: easy to
build and allows no Gedeon streaming, but also reduces the design complexity with less
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thermoacoustic subsections. In addition, this device is designed to meet the energy needs of
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remote and rural communities where there may be no chance to access the electricity grid.
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Therefore, low cost device and the technological simplicity by using the local materials and
manufacturing skills are the key constraints of this design.
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2. Conceptual Design and Cascade Modelling

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The novel “cascade” engine is one feature of thermoacoustic technology. It composes of

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one standing wave component (SWC) and one or more travelling wave components (TWC)
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arranging in series and forming a straight-line topology. The acoustic power generated from
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the SWC is amplified by TWCs, as shown in Fig. 1 (Gardner & Swift, 2003).
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1st stage subsequent stage(s)

E&
SWC TWC E&
T

Fig 1. The cascade engine

In this study, the cascade thermoacoustic engine is designed to operate in one-wavelength

mode with both ends cavities. Due to the requirement to reduce the fabrication cost and
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complexity of the design, the proposed system is designed to operate at atmospheric pressure.
Air is chosen as working fluid because of its cost and availability. Generally, the inert gases
(e.g. helium, argon) are usually applied as working fluid in thermoacoustic system. However,
they may not be suitable for this application because they are unavailable in remote and rural
communities. The standard parts in the market will be applied as possible in order to
minimize the cost of construction.

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The proposed system can be shown schematically in Fig. 2. This system consists of one
SWC and one TWC. It combines the benefits of configuration simplicity, lack of Gedeon
streaming due to the linear arrangement and high efficiency due to the travelling wave engine
stage. In the design, TWC is located at almost centre of the system, near the pressure
antinode, in which the phase of pressure changes from positive 90° to negative 90°. This
provides an effective thermoacoustic conversion because the travelling wave phase and the
acoustic field with high acoustic impedance are achieved.

SWC TWC AAE

Resonator AHXS 2nd AHX

Compliance TBT Compliance
REGS AHXT Resonator
HHXS REG T
HHXT

Fig 2. Schematic diagram of the system

The main components in each subsystem comprises of ambient heat exchanger (AHX),

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regenerator (REG) and hot heat exchanger (HHX). The SWC stage is similar in character to

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the TWC stage. Subscripts “S” and “T” refer to the SWC and TWC, respectively. The details

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of the design features are listed in Table 1.

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Table 1. Design features of the device
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Parts name Design features
Ambient heat exchanger (AHX) Shell and tube heat exchanger
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Regenerator (REG) Stainless steel mesh screens

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Hot heat exchanger (HHX) Parallel plate-type heat exchanger

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Thermal buffer tube (TBT) A section of stainless steel pipe

secondary ambient heat exchanger (2ndAHX) Shell and tube heat exchanger
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Acoustic absorption element (AAE) Few layers of mesh screens

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The thermal buffer tube (TBT) is connected between two engines. The AHX is used to
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keep the cold end of REG at ambient temperature. Here, it is designed as a shell and tube heat
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exchanger. The working gas oscillates within the tube, while the outside of the tube is cooled
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by a water jacket. The excess heat from the hot air is transferred to and removed by the
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cooling water. Beside this heat exchanger, there is a REG which is proposed as a stack of
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stainless steel mesh screens. However, the pore size of the mesh screens in SWC and TWC is
much more different. The hydraulic radius of the screen in TWC is very small compared to
the thermal penetration depth ( δ k = k π f ρmc p ). Therefore, a very good thermal contact
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between the working fluid and solid in the regenerator can be realized. The HHX is located
next to the REG. It is designed as the parallel-plate heat exchanger. The oscillating working
fluid passes through the space between plates. The heating power is delivered in transverse
direction. The secondary ambient heat exchanger (2ndAHX) is added into the system in order
to eliminate the surplus heat of the hot working gas after leaving the HHX. In this design, an
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acoustic absorption element (AAE) is applied to introduce higher acoustic power transfer,
which increases the travelling wave ratio in the acoustic field (Kang et. al. 2013).
The numerical design are implemented based on a linear thermoacoustic theory. It assumes
that the device geometry and flow of energy are one-dimensional and along a path extending
from one termination to the other along the central axis of gas oscillation. The fundamental

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physics concerned with the linear thermoacoustic theory can be described by the continuity,
energy and momentum equations which are the functions of temperature, angular frequency,
pressure and volume flow rate amplitudes, system geometry and gas properties (Swift, 2002).
The changes in pressure amplitude (p1), velocity amplitude (U1) and mean temperature (Tm)
across a thermoacoustic segment can be determined as presented below:
dp1 iωρ m
=− U1 (1)
dx Agas (1 − fν )
dU1 iω Agas  (γ − 1) fκ  β ( fκ − fν ) dTm
=− 2 1 +  p1 + U1 (2)
dx a ρm  1+ εs  (1 − fν )(1 − σ )(1 + ε s ) dx

1   Tm β ( fκ − f%ν ) 
H& 2 − Re  p1U%1 1 − 
 (1 + ε s )(1 + σ )(1 − fν )  
dTm 2  %
= (3)
ρ m c p U1
2
dx  ( f − f%v )(1 + ε s f v / f k ) 
Im  f%ν + k  − ( Agas k + As ks )
2 Agasω (1 − σ ) 1 − fν
2
 (1 + ε s )(1 + σ ) 

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1  

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 Tm β ( fκ − f%ν )

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H& 2 = Re  p1U%1 1 −
% 
2   (1 + ε s )(1 + σ )(1 − fν )  

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ρ m c p U1
2
dTm  ( f − f% )(1 + ε s fv / f k )  dTm
+ Im  f%ν + κ ν  − ( Agas k + As ks ) (4)
(1 + ε s )(1 + σ )
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2 Agasω (1 − σ ) 1 − f v dx
2
  dx
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where ω is the angular frequency, ρm, Tm, Pm, cp, γ, k and σ are mean density, temperature,
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pressure, isobaric specific heat capacity, specific heat ratio, thermal conductivity and Prandtl
number of working fluid, respectively. A is gas flow area of the channel, i is the imaginary
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unit. Re, Im and superscript ~ mean the real part, the imaginary part and the conjugate
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complex quantity, respectively. fv and fκ are viscous and thermal functions depending on the
geometry of individual component. In addition, the acoustic power produced or dissipated in
any segment can be estimated from the expression as:
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dE& 1  % dp1 dU 
= Re U1 + p%1 1  (5)
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dx 2  dx dx 
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The set of these equations is solved simultaneously to determine the change of working fluid
properties along each segment of the thermoacoustic device. Here, the design and
performance analysis are aided by DeltaEC (Ward, Clark & Swift, 2008). This computer code
is widely used to design and predict the performance of thermoacoustic prime movers and
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refrigerators. With a geometry given by the user, a solution found in each segment is required
to match at the junctions between segments. A solution is achieved with pressures and
volume flow rates matched at the junctions between segments. The x coordinate is defined as
the distant along the system describing the distribution of components. It starts from the
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compliance end, near the standing wave engine; x = 0. The model segments are mainly those
shown in Fig. 1. The simulation for the thermoacoustic device is from the origin along the
established coordinate through each segment, with pressures and volumetric velocities
matched at the junctions between segments. The calculation results of the distributions of the
acoustic field and power flow in the system are shown in next section.

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3. Results and Analysis

The simulation results here are based on the optimal configuration of the prototype, which
provides the highest acoustic power. The simulations are performed under these following
conditions: working gas is air, mean pressure is 1 bar, and the solid temperatures of hot heat
exchangers are maintained at 800 K. The distributions of the acoustic field flowing along the
system are shown in Fig. 3. The pressure amplitude distribution along the device which is
around 4 m long is presented in Fig. 3(a). The pressure amplitude grows along the SWC, and
reaches a peak with p1= 19.56 kPa at the TWC. Remarkably, there is a significant drop of
pressure in TWC caused by the flow resistance of the regenerator due to small hydraulic
radius of the screen. In all other parts, the pressure amplitude varies smoothly and exhibits the
one wavelength behaviour.

25
(a)
20
|p1| (kPa)

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(b)
0.25
be .ac ava roc
|U1| (m3/s)

0.20
0.15
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0.10
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0.05
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0.00
3000
(c)
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2500
|Z| (kPa⋅s/m3)

2000
1500
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1000
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500
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0
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0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0

x (m)
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Fig. 3 Distribution of the acoustic field along the system: (a) pressure amplitude;
(b) volumetric velocity; and (c) acoustic impedance
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The volumetric velocity amplitude distribution is shown in Fig. 3(b). There are two
maxima and three minima along the system. The maxima of the volumetric velocity can be
observed at the resonators. Two velocity nodes are at both the closed ends of system, and the
third is located at the regenerator of the TWC, where the maximum of the pressure amplitude
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is detected. The small volumetric velocity within the regenerator is contributed to reduce the
viscous loss which is the cause of acoustic dissipation. Fig. 3(c) shows the acoustic
impedance along the system. This parameter is defined as the complex ratio of pressure to
velocity at a certain point in the system. As seen, the acoustic impedance is highest at the
regenerator of the TWC. Theoretically, the travelling wave stage should be located in the high

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acoustic impedance region because the viscous dissipation is greatly reduced. Subsequently,
the impedance decreases quickly because the pressure amplitude reduces, as shown in Fig.
3(a), while the volumetric velocity increases sharply, as seen in Fig. 3(b).
The phase difference (φz) between pressure and velocity oscillating along the system is
illustrated in Fig. 4. There are three points where the phase difference equals to zero. Two
points are in the resonators, and the last one is in the regenerator of the TWC where the
maximum acoustic impedance is located. As found in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, the regenerator of the
TWC works in the travelling wave phase region (φz = 0° and high impedance) which is the
optimise condition for the thermoacoustic conversion.

120
80
40
φ z (°)

0
-40
-80
-120

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0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0

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Fig. 4 Distribution of the phase difference between pressure and velocity along the system

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Fig. 5 shows the acoustic power flow along the system. It can be seen that the acoustic
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power flow decreases less than zero until reaches the SWC. Then it increases sharply at x =
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1.63 m where the regenerator of the SWC is placed. This means that the acoustic power
generated in the SWC is divided into two directions. One flow is transferred along –x
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direction to feed the acoustic power dissipation in the leftmost compliance and resonator (as
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shown in Fig. 2) and the ambient heat exchanger (AHXs). The other flow is driven along +x
direction. Around 106 W of acoustic power is produced from SWC. It dissipates around 12 W
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before feeding into the TWC. Within the REGT, the acoustic power is then amplified to
around 72 W which is the level of acoustic power flowing out from the hot end of REGT. The
remaining is dissipated in the rightmost resonator and compliance, and consumed by the
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AAE. The results from the calculations show that the engines (SWC+TWC) can produce total
acoustic power of about 140 W at total input heat power of 910 W, corresponding to a
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thermoacoustic conversion efficiency of 15.4%.

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Fig. 5 Distribution of the acoustic power flow along the system

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4. Conclusion

A novel “cascade” configuration of the thermoacoustic engine is designed and simulated in

this study. It consists of one standing wave engine and one travelling wave engine in series.
The linear topology is easy to build and prevents the occurrence of Gedeon streaming. The
cheap and straightforward structure is the targets of this design in order to apply in the remote
and rural communities. As designed, the total length of the system is around 4 m,
corresponding to the frequency of 70.75 Hz. The regenerator of the TWC works in travelling
wave phase region with high acoustic impedance. This has the potential of realizing and
efficient thermoacoustic conversion. According to the calculation, the system can produce
total acoustic power up to 140 W, corresponding to 15.4% of the total thermoacoustic
conversion efficiency. The next step of this research is to build and test the proposed cascade
thermoacoustic device, based on the dimensions obtained from this simulation design.

Acknowledgements

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This work has been supported by Faculty of Engineering, King Mongkut’s University of

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Technology North Bangkok King under contract number 57-10-05-212.

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References

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Backhaus, S. & Swift, G.W. (2000). A thermoacoustic-Stirling heat engine: Detailed study.
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The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 107(6), 3148-3166.
De Blok, K., (2008). Low operating temperature integral thermo acoustic devices for solar
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cooling and waste heat recovery, paper presented in Acoustic’08, Paris, France.
Gardner, D.L. & Swift, G.W. (2003). A cascade thermoacoustic engine. The Journal of the
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Acoustical Society of America, 114(4), 1905-1919.

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Kang, H.F., Jiang, F., Zheng, H. & Jawarski, A.J. (2013). Thermoacoustic travelling-wave
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cooler driven by a cascade thermoacoustic engine. Applied Thermal Engineering, 59,

223-231.
Swift, G.W. (1998). Thermoacoustic engines. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of
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America, 84(4), 1145-1180.

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Swift, G.W. (2000). Thermoacoustics: A Unifying Perspective for Some Engines and
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Refrigerators. ASA: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

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Ward, B., Clark, J. & Swift, G.W. (2008). Design Environment for Low-Amplitude
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Laboratory, New Mexico, USA.

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