The Doshisha

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Shinichi Sakamoto

Shinya Geshi

Yoshiaki Watanabe

Yosuke Imamura

Hideo Yoshida

A thermoacoustic devicefor improving heat exchange efficiency is provided which has a first stackincluding stack constituent elementsL andH laminated together, and a first high-temperature side heat exchangerand a first low-temperature side heat exchanger, which are provided at two ends of the first stack, in which a self-excited acoustic wave is generated by a temperature difference between the first high-temperature side heat exchangerand the first low-temperature side heat exchangerand is then converted to thermal energy in a stackprovided between a second high-temperature side heat exchangerand a second low-temperature side heat exchanger. Between the first high-temperature side heat exchangerand the first low-temperature side heat exchanger, and between the second high-temperature side heat exchangerand the second low-temperature side heat exchanger, a stack constituent elementL having a low thermal conductivity, a stack constituent elementH having a high thermal conductivity, and a stack constituent elementL having a low thermal conductivity are provided in that order.

Heat exchanger and thermoacoustic device using the same

There is provided a thermoacoustic devicewhich has in a loop tube, a first stackbetween a first high-temperature side heat exchangerand a first low-temperature side heat exchanger, and a second stackprovided between a second high-temperature side heat exchangerand a second low-temperature side heat exchanger, so that heat at the first stack side is prevented from being transported to the second stack side even when a large acoustic wave is generated in the tube. In the device, self-excited standing and traveling waves are generated by heating the first high-temperature side heat exchanger, and by the standing and traveling waves, the second low-temperature side heat exchangeris cooled. a piezoelectric filmis provided to suppress an acoustic streaming and/or a direct-current type flow of a working fluid.

Thermoacoustic device with suppressor

A thermoacoustic apparatus capable of reducing the time elapsed until an acoustic wave is generated and improving the energy conversion efficiency significantly is provided. In order to solve the above-described issues, in a thermoacoustic apparatusincluding a pair of heat exchangersandseparately set on the high temperature side and on the low temperature side, a second stackwhich is sandwiched between the heat exchangersandand which has a plurality of transmission paths in the inside, and a loop tubeprovided with the heat exchangersandand the stack, the thermoacoustic apparatus converting acoustic energy generated in the loop tubewith an acoustic wave generatorto thermal energy by using the heat exchangersandand the stack, a narrow portionin which the inner diameter is relatively reduced is disposed at a position at which the particle velocity of a standing wave generated in the loop tubeis in the vicinity of a maximum. Furthermore, in order to reduce the particle velocity, a branch tubeis connected at a position at which the particle velocity of a standing wave generated in the loop tubeis in the vicinity of a minimum.

Thermoacoustic apparatus

In order that an object can be warmed through the use of thermoacoustic effect, the acoustic heating apparatus includes a first stacksandwiched between a high-temperature-side heat exchangerand a low-temperature input-side heat exchangerin a first tube portionand a second stacksandwiched between a low-temperature-side heat exchangerand a high-temperature output-side heat exchangerin a second tube portion. A standing wave and a traveling wave are generated through self excitation in the first tube portionby cooling the low-temperature input-side heat exchangerto minus 20&#xb0; C. to 60&#xb0; C. A temperature gradient is generated in the second stackby propagating the resulting standing wave and the traveling wave to the second tube portion, and high-temperature heat is output due to this temperature gradient from the high-temperature output-side heat exchangerdisposed on the second stackside.

Acoustic heater and acoustic heating system

In order to reduce the time until an acoustic wave is generated and perform heat exchange smoothly in a stack, a thermoacoustic apparatusincludes a first stacksandwiched between a first high-temperature-side heat exchangerand a first low-temperature-side heat exchangerand a second stacksandwiched between a second high-temperature-side heat exchangerand a second low-temperature-side heat exchangerin the inside of a loop tube, wherein a standing wave and a traveling wave are generated through self excitation by heating the first high-temperature-side heat exchanger, the second low-temperature-side heat exchangeris cooled by the standing wave and the traveling wave, or/and a standing wave and a traveling wave are generated by cooling the first low-temperature-side heat exchanger, and the second high-temperature-side heat exchangeris heated by the standing wave and the traveling wave. The standing wave and the traveling wave are generated in the state in which helium having a high sound velocity, a small Prandtl number, and a small specific gravity is enclosed in the loop tube and, thereafter, argon having a low sound velocity, a large Prandtl number, and a small specific gravity is injected.

The present invention is a cooling device, wherein cooling is effected by enclosing a working fluid in a conduit, which is formed by providing a looped tube formed by interconnecting both respective ends of a stack combining a hot heat exchanger with a cold heat exchanger and a stack combining a cooling heat exchanger with a cooling output heat exchanger and by providing at least one or more acoustic wave generators outside or/and inside the looped tube, and then generating a standing wave and traveling wave in the working fluid, with the present cooling device being primarily capable of markedly shortening the time until the start of generation of the standing wave and traveling wave and providing stable control.

Growing community of inventors

Osaka, Japan

Shinichi Sakamoto