Investigation of thermoacoustic muffler

Abstract

The design, construction and testing of a thermoacoustic muffler is discussed. The performance of the muffler is characterized by its ability to reduce the quality factor Q of an acoustic resonator. Measurement of the Q of a helium filler muffler were made for temperature differences ranging from 0 to -130 degrees C. The measured Q-reduction, approximately 30%, agrees with predicted reductions. The predictions are based on a standing wave analysis of thermoacoustic engines published by Atchley (J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 92, 2907-2914 (1992)). These results indicate that Q-reduction is possible. Future work should concentrate on optimization, to determine if a thermoacoustic muffler is, in fact, practical.