Orthogonal experimental study on high frequency cascade thermoacoustic engine

Orthogonal experiment design and variance analysis were adopted to investigate a miniature cascade thermoacoustic engine, which consisted of one standing wave stage and one traveling wave stage in series, operating at about 470 Hz, using helium as the working gas. Optimum matching of the heater powers between stages was very important for the performance of a cascade thermoacoustic engine, which was obtained from the orthogonal experiments. The orthogonal experiment design considered three experimental factors, i.e. the charging pressure and the heater powers in the two stages, which varied on five different levels, respectively. According to the range analysis and variance analysis from the orthogonal experiments, the charging pressure was the most sensitive factor influencing the dynamic pressure amplitude and onset temperature. The total efficiency and the dynamic pressure amplitude increased when the traveling wave stage heater power increased. The optimum ratio of the heater powers between the traveling wave stage and the standing wave stage was about 1.25, compromising the total efficiency with the dynamic pressure amplitude. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.