The Solar/Heat Driven Thermoacoustic Engine

Reh-Lin Chen and Steven L. Garrett

The Solar/Heat Driven Thermoacoustic Engine converts the abundant, clean solar energy to acoustic power with no moving parts. It can be run on either solar energy or electric heating. When running in solar mode, sunlight is collected using a 3-foot diameter acrylic Fresnel lens and focused on a ceramic "stack". An electrical heater was also built and installed to provide a reliable thermal energy for indoor measurement. The measured acoustic SPL can reach 120 dB easily at 1 meter away from the open end (1/4 wave-length) on a clear day. Details and results are to be presented at the 135th ASA Seattle meeting. [This work is supported by Office of Naval Research, lens provided by G. W. Swift]

Setup for indoor and outdoor measurements

Last Updated: Feb. 18th, 1998

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