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Biwa Lab
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The lab aims to build heat engines with no moving parts by converting back and forth between heat and sound waves.
AboutAbout the lab
The more you heat it, the better it cools?
The Biwa Lab studies thermoacoustic phenomena, in which heat and sound waves convert into each other.
Heating gas in a tube generates sound waves, and those sound waves can in turn be used to cool.
The lab studies thermoacoustic engines and coolers that have no moving parts, few components, and are easy to assemble and maintain.
These technologies can use waste heat and solar energy, and are expected to be used in space, deserts, and the ocean.
Key terms
- Thermoacoustic phenomena
- Phenomena in which heat and sound waves convert into each other. Heating produces sound, and sound creates a temperature difference.
- Thermoacoustic engine
- A device that generates sound waves spontaneously through heating and extracts power in the form of sound.
- Stirling cycle
- A highly efficient heat engine mechanism that obtains power by repeatedly compressing and expanding, and heating and cooling, a gas.
NewsLab news
A research paper on liquid-piston Stirling engines was published in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
A student's research paper was published in the Journal of the Combustion Society of Japan
A student's research paper was published in Applied Thermal Engineering
A student received the Dean of the Graduate School of Engineering Award for fiscal year 2024
ResearchResearch themes
The lab experimentally investigates thermoacoustic phenomena, in which heat and sound waves convert into each other. Aiming at thermoacoustic engines and coolers with no moving parts, it works to clarify the mechanisms of energy conversion.
*Illustrative imageDiverse Thermoacoustic Devices
When the heated section of a thermoacoustic engine is heated to around 300°C and reaches the critical temperature, sound waves arise spontaneously. Sound waves flowing into a thermoacoustic cooler go through a cycle similar to a reverse Stirling cycle, producing temperatures as low as -10°C with no moving parts.
*Illustrative imagePhysics of Thermoacoustic Phenomena
The lab aims to understand thermoacoustic devices, which are heat engines without pistons, in terms of heat flow, work flow, and entropy flow. It places emphasis on directly measuring the oscillation quantities of fluid elements and experimentally investigating local energy conversion and entropy generation.
*Illustrative imageHeat Engines Using Sound Waves
The lab works toward thermoacoustic engines and coolers that can use sunlight or waste heat, with a simple structure of only a resonance tube, a regenerator, and a pair of heat exchangers. It works on clarifying energy conversion mechanisms, proposing new devices, and establishing fundamental experimental techniques.
MembersFaculty
The Biwa Lab's members include faculty, administrative assistants, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students (the members page is shared with the Shoji Lab).As of 2025
- ProfessorTetsushi Biwa
- Assistant ProfessorRemi Delage
VoicesStudent voices
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Write a lab reviewAnonymous · Your draft is saved if you stopRelatedLabs similar to Biwa Lab
Shoji LabFaculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace EngineeringThermal control engineering
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Komiya-Kanda LabFaculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace EngineeringHeat transfer controlThe information on this page is compiled by the LabLog team from the lab's public information and interviews. For corrections or removal requests, please contact LabLog, not the lab.
Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Flame-tube-resonance-overlay” MikeRun / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Diverse Thermoacoustic Devices: “Heat exchanger make NRF (cut-away)” S.J. de Waard / CC BY 2.5 (cropped)
- Physics of Thermoacoustic Phenomena: “Acoustic standing wave pump” Ottoleo / CC0 (cropped)
- Heat Engines Using Sound Waves: “Stirlingmotor 3” Claudio Minonzio / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Shoji Lab): “150 deg water contact angle” Plasmatreat Khoren / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Adachi-Kuriyagawa Lab): “Friction-driven Encoder Test (encoder 01-CC)” International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Murashima Lab): “Diamond-like carbon coated cobalt ball” Drac2000 at English Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Komiya-Kanda Lab): “PIN FIN HEAT TRANSFER EXPERIMENT - DPLA - 97be4754f4a04324eb4f79b1ca4a3e76” National Aeronautics and Space Administration. John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field. 3/1/1999 / Public domain (cropped)
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