Who is working on developing thermoacoustic refrigerators and air conditioners?
It is difficult to tell exactly how many groups are working on developing thermoacoustic technology, either domestically or internationally. Commercial refrigeration and air conditioning manufacturers do not “advertise” their new product development efforts. Ford Motor Company is the only industrial laboratory that has published their research in this area, although IBM, and Modine Manufacturing (a heat exchanger manufacturer) have been issued patents on thermoacoustic technology and Praxair has a working device which uses a thermoacoustically-driven pulse-tube refrigerator to liquefy natural gas. CFIC is a small technology consortium that has several patents related to thermoacoustics. In Japan, there is an association of 100 researchers from industry and academia who are working on thermoacoustic refrigeration (including pulse-tube refrigerators). There are several academic institutions and government laboratories which are doing varying amounts of research on issues surrounding ther
Related Questions
- When thermoacoustic refrigerators and air conditioners become commercially available, will they cost more than their conventional vapor compression equivalents?
- How soon will we be able to purchase commercial thermoacoustic refrigerators and air conditioners?
- Who is working on developing thermoacoustic refrigerators and air conditioners?
