When thermoacoustic refrigerators and air conditioners become commercially available, will they cost more than their conventional vapor compression equivalents?
There are no intrinsically expensive components in thermoacoustic refrigerators. They operate at pressures that are similar to vapor compression refrigerators. Thermoacoustic refrigerators do not require any exotic materials and do not depend upon close tolerances nor do they require lubrication, since they have no sliding seals. Unlike vapor compression refrigeration, which use the “working fluid” as the heat transport fluid, all of the thermoacoustic refrigerators which provide more that 10 to 20 Wthermal of cooling capacity have used secondary heat transport fluids. This could increase the cost, since additional heat exchangers and fluid pumps (or heat pipes) are required. On the other hand, the separation of the working fluid and the heat transport fluids allow each to be optimized independently. This could lead to more uniform thermal distribution and higher efficiency that might increase acquisition cost but reduces life-cycle costs. This is not a cost factor in many applications
Related Questions
- When thermoacoustic refrigerators and air conditioners become commercially available, will they cost more than their conventional vapor compression equivalents?
- How large/heavy are thermoacoustic refrigerators compared to their vapor compression counterparts?
- How soon will we be able to purchase commercial thermoacoustic refrigerators and air conditioners?
