Design and experimental verification of a cascade traveling-wave thermoacoustic amplifier

Abstract

In this study, we designed and built a prototype of a cascade thermoacoustic amplifier that connects multiple regenerators while satisfying high acoustic impedance at all regenerator positions. To connect the regenerators, the transfer matrix for each component unit, consisting of a regenerator and the adjacent resonators, was analyzed and the eigenvector and the eigenvalue were numerically determined. The experimental results showed that an acoustic power amplification higher than 100 was achieved by the cascade connection of eight regenerators. Furthermore, a high acoustic impedance of approximately six times higher than that of a free-traveling plane wave was realized at all regenerator positions.