A review on Vuilleumier machines

Dogkas, George; Rogdakis, E.D.

doi:10.1016/j.tsep.2018.09.004

Cited by 20 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…In Vuilleumier machines [1,2] a working gas is cyclically transferred back and forth between three working spaces, each of which is thermally coupled to a different external heat bath and is thus maintained at a different temperature level. This is schematically shown in Figure 1.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimized Cooling Power of a Vuilleumier Refrigerator with Limited Regeneration

et al. 2021

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Vuilleumier refrigerators provide cooling power by utilizing a heat source at temperatures above the ambient. This is particularly helpful in situations where waste heat is available and other power sources are limited. Vuilleumier refrigerators come in different technical configurations; here we analyze the thermodynamic performance of a configuration utilizing two displacer pistons with integrated regenerators. More specifically, we optimize the cooling power by optimizing the piston movement for a range of operation speeds. The optimization is based on the AS motion class for cyclic dynamics and uses an endoreversible model for the refrigerator. Our focus is on the influence of the regeneration extent present, and we find performance gains of about 17% for high regeneration extent and of about 28% for lower regeneration extent.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimized Cooling Power of a Vuilleumier Refrigerator with Limited Regeneration

et al. 2021

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“…Vuilleumier machines are used in a variety of applications, either as heat pumps, refrigerators, or cryocoolers. As heat pumps, they can, for example, be applied in residential heating [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. On the other hand, as refrigerators, they can, for example, be used for cargo cooling [ 2 , 5 , 6 ] and low-temperature cooling [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As heat pumps, they can, for example, be applied in residential heating [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. On the other hand, as refrigerators, they can, for example, be used for cargo cooling [ 2 , 5 , 6 ] and low-temperature cooling [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ]. In this paper, we will focus on a Vuilleumier refrigerator.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cooling Cycle Optimization for a Vuilleumier Refrigerator

Paul

Khodja

Fischer

et al. 2021

Entropy

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Vuilleumier refrigerators are a special type of heat-driven cooling machines. Essentially, they operate by using heat from a hot bath to pump heat from a cold bath to an environment at intermediate temperatures. In addition, some external energy in the form of electricity can be used as an auxiliary driving mechanism. Such refrigerators are, for example, advantageous in situations where waste heat is available and cooling power is needed. Here, the question of how the performance of Vuilleumier refrigerators can be improved is addressed with a particular focus on the piston motion and thus the thermodynamic cycle of the refrigerator. In order to obtain a quantitative estimate of the possible cooling power gain, a special class of piston movements (the AS motion class explained below) is used, which was already used successfully in the context of Stirling engines. We find improvements of the cooling power of more than 15%.

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“…Adiabatic losses, heat losses, and friction losses are the main reason for a low practical COP. Nevertheless, as thermal-to-mechanical efficiency in the independent Stirling engine and mechanical-to-thermal efficiency in the independent Stirling cooler can reach 68% [5] and 41~46% [6] of Carnot efficiency, respectively, Vuilleumier machines could have 28~31% of Carnot efficiency for cooling, which is the product of the independent Stirling engine and independent Stirling cooler values [7]. However, as shown in Table 1, the maximum relative Carnot efficiency COP Carnot in practical Vuilleumier machines is only 15%, which is nearly half of the value based on an independent Stirling engine and independent Stirling cooler.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theoretical Analysis of Vuilleumier’s Hypothetical Engine and Cooler

et al. 2021

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Vuilleumier machines are a promising technology for heating. Respective performances of Vuilleumier’s engine and cooler are generally unclear. In Stirling machines, performances can be determined based on PV power flow and heat flow methods. In this work, respective performances based on two methods in current Vuilleumier models were investigated. It was found that PV power flow and heat flow methods in current Vuilleumier models were ineffective for analysis of respective performances due to there being no piston as a boundary between Vuilleumier’s engine and cooler. Then, a virtual piston was assumed, and a virtual piston based Vuilleumier model (VPBVM) was developed. The relative Carnot efficiencies of the obtained engine and cooler were 53~64% and 43~49%, respectively, at conditions of 550 °C hot temperature, 50~70 °C warm temperature, and −20~10 °C cold temperature. The results indicated that respective performances obtained in VPBVM were reasonable. Moreover, the engine’s compression ratios could be obtained in VPBVM and were 1.2~1.24. Thus, VPBVM could be effective for the analysis of the Vuilleumier machine’s engine and cooler.

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A review on Vuilleumier machines

Cited by 20 publications

References 31 publications

Optimized Cooling Power of a Vuilleumier Refrigerator with Limited Regeneration

Optimized Cooling Power of a Vuilleumier Refrigerator with Limited Regeneration

Cooling Cycle Optimization for a Vuilleumier Refrigerator

Theoretical Analysis of Vuilleumier’s Hypothetical Engine and Cooler

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