Active control of thermoacoustic amplification in a thermo-acousto-electric engine

Côme Olivier (1) , Guillaume Penelet (1) , Gaelle Poignand (1) , Pierrick Lotton (1)

1 LAUM - Laboratoire d'Acoustique de l'Université du Mans

In this paper, a new approach is proposed to control the thermoacoustic amplification in a traveling-wave thermoacoustic engine. Based on the assumption that the spatial distribution of the self-established acoustic field in a stabilized regime does not necessary have the optimal shape for the most efficient thermal-to-acoustic conversion, this method uses an auxiliary acoustic source with a feedback loop applied on a thermo-acousto-electric transducer to improve its overall efficiency. After a brief presentation of the engine and its capabilities without any form of control, the preliminary results of an experimental study under various conditions are shown to demonstrate the possibility of a significant improvement in the thermoacoustic conversion with an appropriate tuning of the control parameters of the feedback loop. Applicability and further directions of investigation are also discussed.

Mots clés: Thermoacoustics; active control; thermo-electric transducer; electroacoustic feedback

Domaines: Acoustique [physics.class-ph]

Côme Olivier, Guillaume Penelet, Gaelle Poignand, Pierrick Lotton. Active control of thermoacoustic amplification in a thermo-acousto-electric engine. n3l - Int’l Summer School and Workshop on Non-Normal and Nonlinear Effects in Aero- and Thermoacoustics, TU München Jun 2013, Munich, Germany. pp.174905 - 174905. ⟨hal-01401761⟩