Eco-Friendly Alternative Refrigeration Systems

S S Verma is a senior lecturer in the Department of Physics, Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Longowal, Punjab.

We saw in Part 1 of this article the need, suitability and the technological developments of two eco-friendly alternative, i.e. magnetic and thermoelectric, refrigeration systems. In the present article, we briefly introduce the principle of thermoacoustic refrigeration technique along with the latest developments in this technology.

The relevance of acoustic principles is by no means limited to sound and hearing. Presently [1-4], applications of acoustic waves is becoming a powerful tool in a wide variety of fields, e.g., sonar and ultrasonics. An electrical signal may be converted to acoustical (i.e. sound) signals with a transducer using a principle similar to that used in loudspeakers. Sound waves in a gas causes changes in both pressure and displacement. Change in pressure leads to change in temperature. Thus, the combination of sound waves and the temperature variations due to them and their interaction with solid boundaries provides a variety of thermoacoustic effects. Although these effects, as they occur in everyday life, are too small to be noticed, one can harness high intensity sound waves in acoustically sealed chambers to produce refrigerators known as thermoacoustic refrigerators.

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Address for Correspondence
S S Verma 
Department of Physics, 
Sant Longowal Institute of 
Engineering and Technology Longowal, District Sangrur 
Punjab 148 106, India.