EXPERIMENTAL CHARACTERISATION AND OPTIMISATION OF 3D PRINTED STACKS FOR THERMOACOUSTIC REFRIGERATION

In light of the broadening use of refrigeration in the modern industrial era and considering that conventional refrigeration fluids such as HCFCs, CFCs and HFCs are among the major causes of increased global warming, it seems necessary to implement greener and more sustainable refrigeration solutions rather than continuing to use the ordinary refrigeration methods. Literature emphasizes the need to develop simple and inexpensive acoustic refrigerator prototypes, but one major difficulty results in finding robust and reproducible setups. The following study introduces the description of an experimental and inexpensive construction of a thermo-acoustic refrigerator (TAR), aimed to convert acoustic energy into thermal energy to be used as a heat source in a refrigeration cycle. TARs operate with inert non-polluting fluids such as air, present no frictional losses and require less maintenance costs than ordinary refrigerators, and can operate with either standing or traveling acoustic waves. This work focuses on the repeatability of the setup and the robustness of the results obtained, characterizing an innovative material for the stacks production and proposing a process of optimization of the stack itself. The aim of the study is to realize a simple and economic prototype, which is also robust, easily replicable and innovative from the point of view of the choice of materials, production techniques and their optimisation process. The results concerning the gradient of temperature obtained will be analysed in order to validate the success of the experiment in terms of optimization and reproducibility.