Possibility of using a bi-directional impulse turbine in a thermo-acoustic engine

The paper is devoted to one of engine types with external heating – a thermoacoustic engine. Ways of transforming the energy of a shock wave of oscillating gas flow into electric energy are discussed. The authors suggest using a bidirectional impulse turbine as an energy converter. The distinctive feature of this kind of turbine is that the shock wave of oscillating gas flow passing through the turbine is reflected and passes through the turbine again in the opposite direction. The direction of turbine rotation does not change in the process. Different types of bidirectional impulse turbines for thermoacoustic engines are analyzed. The Wells turbine is the simplest and least efficient of them. A radial impulse turbine has more complicated design and is more efficient than the Wells turbine. The most appropriate type of impulse turbine was chosen. This type is an axial impulse turbine which has a simpler design than that of a radial turbine and similar efficiency. The peculiarities of the method of calculating an impulse turbine are discussed. They include changes in gas pressure and velocity as functions of time during the generation of gas oscillating flow shock waves in a thermoacoustic system.