Energy conversion of thermoacoustic engines with evaporation and condensation

This study investigated the energy conversion of a thermoacoustic engine using a wet regenerator for the interconversion of heat flux density and work flux density. According to the first law of thermodynamics, local energy conversion can be described using a work source corresponding to the gradient of work flux density. First, we analytically separated the work source for the thermoacoustic phenomena related to water evaporation and condensation. Thereafter, we experimentally investigated the energy conversion of only gas, and then that of water evaporation and condensation. The data obtained were compared with the analytical results. The analytical and experimental results showed good agreement. Furthermore, the energy conversion with evaporation and condensation, which was determined both analytically and experimentally, was higher than that obtained for only gas by a maximum of a factor of 4.5. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study combined analytical and experimental methods to investigate the energy conversion of a thermoacoustic engine with a wet regenerator, showing that evaporation and condensation processes play a significant role in energy conversion, with the energy conversion efficiency being up to 4.5 times higher than that of gas-only conversion.