Thermoacoustics is the interaction between temperature, density and pressure variations of acoustic waves. Thermoacoustic heat engines can readily be driven using solar energy or waste heat and they can be controlled using proportional control. They can use heat available at low temperatures which makes it ideal for heat recovery and low power applications. The components included in thermoacoustic engines are usually very simple compared to conventional engines. The device can easily be controlled and maintained.
Fig. 1. a: Plot of the amplitudes of the velocity and displacements, and the pressure and temperature variations in a half-wavelength tube of a pure standing wave. b: corresponding δT – δx plots of a standing wave. c: δT – δx plots of a pure traveling wave.
Fig. 2. a: schematic diagram of a thermoacoustic prime mover; b: schematic diagram of a thermoacoustic refrigerator.
Fig. 3. Schematic drawing of a travelling-wave thermoacoustic engine
A pyrophone, also known as a "fire/explosion organ" or "fire/explosion calliope" is a musical instrument in which notes are sounded by explosions, or similar forms of rapid combustion, rapid heating, or the like, such as burners in cylindrical glass tubes, creating light and sound. It was invented by physicist and musician Georges Frédéric Eugène Kastner, son of composer Jean-Georges Kastner, around 1870.
One of the pyrophones constructed by Kastner, as seen in 2013 in the Musée historique de Strasbourg
Durant's diagram of the sound-creating gas burners, the, "mechanisms that allowed two flames to unite or diverge to produce a musical note"
Kastner
The German composer Wendelin Weißheimer playing a pyrophone