A team of researchers at Adelaide University's School of Mechanical Engineering is working on an innovative vehicle airconditioning system which uses thermoacoustic refrigeration technology. The researchers are Luke Zoontjens, Carl Howard, Anthony Zander and Ben Cazzolato. The technology involves an exchange between acoustic and thermal energy. In principle, a heat "engine" takes heat from a hot reservoir, converts some of it into acoustic energy and dumps the unused heat to a cool reservoir. A heat "pump" uses acoustic energy to pump heat from one temperature reservoir to another, resulting in a temperature gradient between the two reservoirs.
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