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More Efficient than
Other No-Moving-Parts Heat Engines 
Our new heat
engine efficiently converts heat to intense acoustic power in
a simple device that comprises only pipes and conventional heat
exchangers and has no moving parts. The acoustic power can be
used directly in acoustic refrigerators or pulse-tube refrigerators
to provide heat-driven refrigeration with no moving parts, or
it can be used to generate electricity via a linear alternator
or other electroacoustic power transducer. Already the engine's
30% efficiency and high reliability may make medium-sized natural-gas
liquefaction plants (with a capacity of up to a million gallons
per day) and residential cogeneration economically feasible.
World Oil®
magazine recently announced the thirteen winners of the “New
Horizons” awards. Connecticut-based Praxair received “The
New Horizons Idea Award,” for their work  with
the Los Alamos National Laboratory to liquefy natural gas using
thermoacoustics.
Thermoacoustic engines and refrigerators use sound waves instead
of moving parts to ultimately convert gas to liquid. An early
prototype produced 140 gallons per day of LNG, and a 500 gallon-per-day
prototype is close to completion. Praxair and Los Alamos National
Laboratory received recognition because their cost-effective process
promises to meet demands for liquefying natural gas in many situations.
Los Alamos researchers who worked on this project include: Greg
Swift, Scott Backhaus, Carmen Espinoza, Chris Espinoza, David
Gardner, and Mike Torrez all of the Condensed Matter and Thermal
Physics Group (MST-10).
This work was awarded
a 1999 R&D; 100 award! The R&D; 100 awards program, now in its 37th
year, is designed to honor significant commercial promise in products,
materials, or processes developed by the international research
and development community. Technologies are nominated in open competition
and judged by technical experts selected by the Illinois-based R&D;
Magazine. The magazine uses technical criteria to select the
100 most significant, unique, or promising entries.
If you are interested
in industrial or academic partnerships or postdoctoral programs,
please visit this site: 
Opportunities at
Los Alamos National Laboratory
For more information
contact:
Scott Backhaus at backhaus@lanl.gov
Greg Swift at swift@lanl.gov
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