A thermo-acoustic device for transferring energy by an acoustic wave, includes a resonator; a source for generating the acoustic wave; a thermodynamic section that forms an acoustic network and includes a compliance volume, a thermo-acoustic core and a fluidic inertia. The thermodynamic section is situated between the resonator and the source. The thermo-acoustic core is within the thermodynamic section and includes a cold terminal, a hot terminal and a regenerator. The regenerator is positioned between the hot and cold terminals. The source includes a piston compressor. The compressor is arranged as a mechanical double acting reciprocating piston compressor with a first outlet for a pressure wave generated on one side of the piston and a second outlet for a pressure wave generated on the other side of the piston. The first outlet is coupled with a first thermodynamic section, and the second outlet coupled with a second thermodynamic section.

In a cryogenic regenerator including a regenerator tube, a partitioning tube, whose tube wall is perforated by uniformly distributed through-holes, inside of which regenerator packing is provided, and having rib rings wrapped peripherally around its outer wall, is arranged coaxially inside the regenerator tube, with a buffer cavity between the regenerator-tube inner wall and the partitioning-tube outer wall. In a pulse-tube refrigerator including the regenerator and a gas reservoir, the regenerator, thanks to the designing of its reservoir and through-holes, draws in radial flows such that the form of heat exchange in the same regenerator cross-section goes from being simple thermal conduction to being heat exchange in which heat convection is coupled with thermal conduction, enhancing radial heat transfer and enabling rapid equilibration of temperature gradients along the regenerator periphery, and, by effectively keeping non-uniformity phenomena inside the regenerator under control, making improved refrigerator efficiency possible.

A pulse-tube cryocooler includes a compressor piston that is axially aligned with a pulse tube. The compressor piston is an annular piston that has a central hole around its axis. An inertance tube, connected to one end of the pulse tube, runs through the central hole in the compressor piston. The cryocooler also includes a balancer that moves in opposition to the compressor piston, to offset the forces in moving the compressor piston. The balancer may also be axially aligned with the pulse tube, the annular piston, and the inertance tube. The alignment of the compressor piston, the pulse tube, and the inertance tube aligns the forces produced by movement of fluid within the cryocooler. This makes it easier to cancel mechanical forces produced by the cryocooler in operation, since all (or most) of the forces are in a single axial direction.

A thermo-acoustic device for transferring energy by an acoustic wave, includes a resonator; a source for generating the acoustic wave; a thermodynamic section that forms an acoustic network and includes a compliance volume, a thermo-acoustic core and a fluidic inertia. The thermodynamic section is situated between the resonator and the source. The thermo-acoustic core is within the thermodynamic section and includes a cold terminal, a hot terminal and a regenerator. The regenerator is positioned between the hot and cold terminals. The source includes a piston compressor. The compressor is arranged as a mechanical double acting reciprocating piston compressor with a first outlet for a pressure wave generated on one side of the piston and a second outlet for a pressure wave generated on the other side of the piston. the first outlet is coupled with a first thermodynamic section, and the second outlet coupled with a second thermodynamic section.

A refrigerator includes a regenerator, a low-temperature end heat exchanger, a pulse tube, a high-temperature end heat exchanger, and a phase adjustment mechanism, connected in that order. A draft tube is provided inside the regenerator, paralleling the regenerator's axis, and the draft tube can extend into the low-temperature end heat exchanger.

In a cryogenic regenerator including a regenerator tube, a partitioning tube, whose tube wall is perforated by uniformly distributed through-holes, inside of which regenerator packing is provided, and having rib rings wrapped peripherally around its outer wall, is arranged coaxially inside the regenerator tube, with a buffer cavity between the regenerator-tube inner wall and the partitioning-tube outer wall. In a pulse-tube refrigerator including the regenerator and a gas reservoir, the regenerator, thanks to the designing of its reservoir and through-holes, draws in radial flows such that the form of heat exchange in the same regenerator cross-section goes from being simple thermal conduction to being heat exchange in which heat convection is coupled with thermal conduction, enhancing radial heat transfer and enabling rapid equilibration of temperature gradients along the regenerator periphery, and, by effectively keeping non-uniformity phenomena inside the regenerator under control, making improved refrigerator efficiency possible.