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A thermoacoustic device having a thermal stack made from a piece of porous material which provides a desirable ratio of thermoacoustic area to viscous area, which has a low resistance to flow, which minimizes acoustic streaming and which has a high specific heat and low thermal conductivity is discl

A thermoacoustic device having a thermal stack made from a piece of porous material which provides a desirable ratio of thermoacoustic area to viscous area, which has a low resistance to flow, which minimizes acoustic streaming and which has a high specific heat and low thermal conductivity is disclosed. The thermal stack is easy and cheap to form and it can be formed in small sizes. Specifically, in one embodiment, a thermal stack which is formed by the natural structure of a porous material such as reticulated vitreous carbon is disclosed. The thermal stack is formed by machining a block of reticulated vitreous carbon into the required shape of the thermal stack. In a second embodiment, a micro-thermoacoustic device is disclosed which includes a thermal stack made of a piece of porous material such as reticulated vitreous carbon. In another embodiment, a heat exchanger is disclosed which is formed of a block of heat conductive open cell foam material.

대표청구항 ▼

A thermoacoustic device comprising: a housing; a transducer, said transducer disposed within said housing; a first heat exchanger, said first heat exchanger disposed within said housing; a second heat exchanger, said second heat exchanger disposed within said housing; and a thermal stack comprising

A thermoacoustic device comprising: a housing; a transducer, said transducer disposed within said housing; a first heat exchanger, said first heat exchanger disposed within said housing; a second heat exchanger, said second heat exchanger disposed within said housing; and a thermal stack comprising a single piece of porous material, said thermal stack having pore space, said thermal stack disposed within said housing such that said thermal stack directly adjoins said first heat exchanger and such that thermal stack directly adjoins said second heat exchanger such that a gas may be dispersed throughout said housing and throughout said pore space of said thermal stack such that, upon the activation of said transducer, an oscillating wave form is produced within said gas so as to compress and decompress said gas and form a temperature gradient within said thermal stack.