Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 49 (2010) 07HE17 (6 pages)  |Previous Article| |Next Article|  |Table of Contents|
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Miniaturization of the Loop-Tube-Type Thermoacoustic Cooling System: Effect of the Installation Position of Heat Pump and Working Gas in the Tube

Kohei Hotta, Shin-ichi Sakamoto¹, Daichi Tsukamoto, and Yoshiaki Watanabe²

(Received November 30, 2009; accepted January 27, 2010; published online July 20, 2010)

A loop-tube-type thermoacoustic cooling system uses heat energy as a power source. Therefore, it is possible to put a loop tube into practical use in different areas. Several reports have described total loop tube lengths greater than 3 m. Additional miniaturization is necessary to apply this system to electronic devices such as personal computers. As described herein, to realize a miniature loop tube, an A4-size loop tube (850 mm total length; 24 mm inner diameter) was designed. Furthermore, to assess this system's cooling properties, two experimental investigations were carried out. One is to elucidate the heat pump installation position. The other is to assess the working gas in the tube. An A4-size loop tube driven on the basis of those experimental results achieved cooling from room temperature to 0 °C.

URL: http://jjap.jsap.jp/link?JJAP/49/07HE17/
DOI: 10.1143/JJAP.49.07HE17

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