Shipboard electronics thermoacoustic cooler

Abstract

A thermoacoustic refrigerator that was optimized for preservation of biological samples in space, was modified for use as a cooler for the CV-2095 shipboard radar electronics rack. The thermoacoustic cooler was tested in the laboratory and demonstrated at sea aboard USS DEYO (DD-989). In the laboratory, using a calibrated heat load, the data acquisition system was able to account for the total energy balance to within 4%. At the highest operating power aboard ship, 226.6 Watts of acoustic power was used to provide 419 Walls of useful cooling power, corresponding to a coefficient of performance of 1.85. Taking into account the 53.9% electroacoustic efficiency of the loudspeakers, the Shipboard Electronics ThermoAcoustic Cooler (SETAC) provided one Watt of cooling for each Watt of electrical power input.