Experimental Performance Evaluation of a Thermoacoustic Stirling Engine with a Low-Cost Arduino-Based Acquisition System

Existing thermoacoustic dynamic measurement instrumentation is typically expensive and relies on proprietary designs, sensors, and acquisition equipment. However, this study presents a low-cost acquisition solution for sampling pressure and calculating instantaneous power measurements from a thermoacoustic engine using cost-effective sensors and control boards based on the Arduino platform. While the platform was designed for thermoacoustic engines with extra security for safe, high-speed data transfer, it could also suit other applications with similar needs. This study details the implementation of the sampling system and sensor arrangement, employing Python 3.10.2 algorithms based on the two-pressure sensor method to process and present the data. The sampling system is evaluated against a high-performance sound acquisition system. The accuracy of the low-cost system is found to be satisfactory for expected thermoacoustic experimental conditions in terms of pressure resolution and accuracy, with no data loss. These results allow for significantly increased accuracy at low cost in determining the maximum power extracted from any thermoacoustic device.