Experimental Study on a 500 W Traveling-wave Thermoacoustic Electric Generator

AbstractTraveling-wave thermoacoustic electric generator is promising in solar power generation and energy recovering due to its high efficiency, high reliability, and capability of utilizing low-grade heat. A traveling-wave thermoacoustic electric generator composed of a thermoacoustic engine and two linear alternators is designed and constructed. Output electric power and thermal-to-electric efficiency of the system are studied under different working conditions. Experimental results show that the load resistance should be optimized to achieve a good performance. A maximum electric power of 473.6 W and a maximum thermal-to-electric efficiency of 14.5% are achieved by optimizing the load resistances, respectively. Further improvements are expected by increasing the working pressure and optimizing the acoustic coupling between the linear alternators and the thermoacoustic engine