Overview and outlook of heat-driven oscillating systems for sustainable heating, cooling and power generation

Abstract

As a class of promising micro- or small-scale energy conversion technologies, heat-driven oscillating systems have drawn growing attention in heating, cooling, and power generation, thanks to their high reliability and high efficiency, especially for the conversion of lower-grade heat in distributed power generation and cogeneration applications. Representative heat-driven oscillating systems include single-phase (e.g., Stirling cycle systems, thermoacoustic systems), and two-phase alternatives (e.g., thermofluidic oscillators, etc.). This vision article reviews the articles featured in the Special Issue ‘Heat-Driven Oscillating Systems for Sustainable Heating, Cooling, and Power Generation’, and summarises the state-of-the-art advances in various heat-driven oscillating systems for heating, cooling, and power generation applications, with an emphasis on Stirling-cycle and thermoacoustic systems, which are currently the most mature. Finally, challenges and prospects within this growing and important domain are identified.