ASA 130th Meeting - St. Louis, MO - 1995 Nov 27 .. Dec 01

4pPA8. Shipboard electronics thermoacoustic cooler.

D. McKelvey

S. Ballaster

Naval Postgrad. School, Monterey, CA 93943

S. Garrett

Penn State Univ., State College, PA 16804

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, 227 W of acoustic power was used to provide 419 W of useful cooling power, corresponding to a coefficient of performance of 1.85. Taking into account the 54% electroacoustic efficiency of the loudspeakers, the shipboard electronics thermoacoustic cooler (SETAC) provided 1 W of cooling for each watt of electrical power input. [Work supported the Office of Naval Research and the Navy Science Assistance Program.]