Operation of Thermoacoustic Stirling Heat Engine Driven Large Multiple Pulse Tube Refrigerators

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Operation of Thermoacoustic Stirling Heat Engine Driven Large Multiple Pulse Tube Refrigerators

Arman, Bayram / Wollan, John / Kotsubo, Vince / Backhaus, Scott / Swift, Greg

Abstract With support from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Praxair has been developing thermoacoustic Stirling heat engines and refrigerators for liquefaction of natural gas. The combination of thermoacoustic engines with pulse tube refrigerators is the only technology capable of producing significant cryogenic refrigeration with no moving parts. A prototype, powered by a natural-gas burner and with a projected natural-gas-liquefaction capacity of 500 gal/day, has been built and tested. The unit has liquefied 350 gal/day, with a projected production efficiency of 70% liquefaction and 30% combustion of an incoming gas stream. A larger system, intended to have a liquefaction capacity of 20,000 gal/day and an efficiency of 80 to 85% liquefaction, has undergone preliminary design. In the 500 gal/day system, the combustion-powered thermoacoustic Stirling heat engine drives three pulse tube refrigerators to generate refrigeration at methane liquefaction temperatures. Each refrigerator was designed to produce over 2 kW of refrigeration. The orifice valves of the three refrigerators were adjusted to eliminate Rayleigh streaming in the pulse tubes. This paper describes the hardware, operating experience, and some recent test results.