Patent ID: 7055332

Claim:
A thermoacoustic device comprising: a compliant enclosure including a rigid portion and a compliant portion, the compliant portion including an oscillating member and a flexure seal with a pair of ends and a flexure body extending therebetween, one of the ends being sealed to the rigid portion and the other end being sealed to the oscillating member, the flexure seal having an average cross sectional area and an end to end equilibrium length, a flexure volume, V flex , being defined as the product of the average cross sectional area and the end to end equilibrium length; a thermal core disposed in the compliant enclosure, the thermal core including at least a first and a second heat exchanger; a working volume, V o , of pressurized gaseous working fluid filling the compliant enclosure, the working volume of gaseous working fluid having equilibrium pressure; P m ; and a motor operable to oscillate the oscillating member such that the end to end length of the flexure seal is increased and decreased with respect to the equilibrium length, whereby the pressure of the working volume of gaseous working fluid is oscillated between a peak pressure greater than the equilibrium pressure and a minimum pressure less than the equilibrium pressure; wherein at least a portion of the thermal core is disposed in the flexure volume.