Measuring the performance of different stack materials in thermoacoustic device

摘要

In our project we investigated the performance of different material used for building a part of a thermoacoustic engine. We tested 5 materials of 3 types; metal (stainless steel, aluminum), plastic (PET, kapton) and paper (paper tape). We formed stacks from tapes of those materials, rolled with fishing line pieces in between. We put the stacks in the same thermoacoustic device and used electronic devices to control sound wave parameters and collected data. During the experiment we obtained temperature various differences from 2,1⁰C (aluminum) to 17,18⁰C (stainless steel) in frequency range from 250Hz to 370Hz. Our experiment showed that the best performing material is stainless steel with the biggest temperature difference, followed by the group of plastics (PET 11,19⁰C and Kapton 11,38⁰C) then paper (with highest temperature difference of 10,01⁰C). In each measurement we did, aluminum stack was the worst, with highest temperature difference of 5,51⁰C. Our results contradict literature which we found while preparing for our experiment.