Subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest news and events from TWI:

Subscribe >

TITAN: Thermoacoustic innovative technology

TWI has just completed an Innovate UK feasibility project, TITAN, investigating the potential application of a thermoacoustic generator (TAG) device to harvest waste energy from marine vessel engines.

The TAG device was designed and prototyped by European Thermodynamics Ltd, the University of Leeds, and TWI. It aims to maximise the waste heat capture efficiency in small, economic, and modularised thermoacoustic Stirling engine recuperators.

Addressing inefficiency

One third of the fuel energy used in marine engines is wasted through the exhaust system. If this thermal energy could be harvested, fuel consumption and CO2 emission could be reduced. Suitable for the marine environment, thermoacoustics is a relatively new technology that allows a direct conversion of engine exhaust heat to pressure waves. TITAN applies this theory to generate electricity from waste heat, using a modified Stirling engine design.

Prototyping

The project team designed, built and tested a prototype to demonstrate the feasibility of a TAG device for marine engines. This required design iterations, prototype manufacture and extensive testing. TWI supported the TITAN project with the following:

  • Design for manufacture: multiple finite element (FE) models were constructed to analyse the thermo-mechanical stresses of the hot heat exchanger (component with highest risk) in order to inform component design and integrity.
  • Advising optimum joining methodologies for joints within the TAG, to ensure joint integrity.

TWI optimised the heat exchanger channel design, achieving a balance between heat transfer, unit size and material cost. TWI’s analysis avoided plastic collapse of the narrow channels carrying working gas (helium) and exhaust gas at high pressure, with large thermal differentials. A 2D FE model demonstrated that adding a central support to the high-pressure channel, along with increasing the ligament thickness, ensured the integrity of the channels. Figure 1 shows the yielded material of the original channel design under pressure, compared with the new design, where through-wall yielding does not occur.

The project successfully manufactured a prototype TAG (see Figure 2). TWI provided joining advice for the high-temperature joints, including welding approach and joint preparation and design.

For more details visit www.titan4wh.com or email contactus@twi.co.uk

Figure 1a (top): Original helium channel design. Figure 1b (bottom): Re-designed channel. Grey material has yielded.
Figure 1a (top): Original helium channel design. Figure 1b (bottom): Re-designed channel. Grey material has yielded.
Avatar Sabrina Blackwell Senior Project Leader – Numerical Modelling and Optimisation

Media /

Related Insights

View all insights
}