When we think of the future of technology, we often overlook a field that is making incredible advances—acoustics. Sound is proving to be one of the fundamental building blocks of the future. Science is using it to do more cool stuff than ever, and in the coming years we’re sure to be hearing about it a lot more.
10Refrigeration
A team of researchers at Penn State University, sponsored by Ben and Jerry’s, has made a refrigerator that chills food with sound. It works on the principle that sound waves compress and expand the air around them, which heats and cools the air respectively. Normally, sound waves affect temperatures no more than 1/10,000 of a degree, but far larger effects can be had by placing the gas inside the fridge under far greater pressure—about 10 atmospheres worth. The thermoacoustic freezer, as it’s called, pressurizes the gas inside its cooling chamber and blasts it with more than 173 decibels of sound, generating heat. Inside, a series of metal plates within the path of the sound waves absorbs the heat and delivers it to a heat exchanger system. The heat is removed and the contents of the fridge are chilled.
The system was developed as a more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional refrigerators. Unlike traditional models, which use chemical refrigerants that damage the atmosphere, the thermoacoustic refrigerator works very well with inert gases like helium. Since helium will just leak out of the atmosphere if it escapes, it makes the new technology far greener than anything currently on the market. As the science advances, its designers hope that thermoacoustic models will eventually outstrip conventional refrigerators in terms of reliability since they have fewer moving parts to break down.
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