High-performance cooling and heat pumping based on fatigue-resistant elastocaloric effect in compression

Barocaloric effect in a Gay-Berne liquid crystal

A coarse-grained molecular Monte Carlo simulation of the barocaloric effect in a model Gay-Berne liquid crystal is presented, following the so-called indirect approach wherein the caloric response is obtained from thermodynamic arguments applied to the simulated equilibrium relation between pressure, density, and temperature. From simulation, the magnitude of the effect across the isotropic-nematic and nematic-smectic phase transitions is estimated, together with the heat exchanged outside these transitions, in order to assess its potential for novel cooling and heat pumping applications. Under adiabatic conditions, pressure-induced phase transitions are predicted to result in a temperature variation of a few degrees Kelvin. As a by-product of the simulation, an approximate partial phase diagram of the Gay-Berne fluid under study is also obtained.

Continuous and efficient elastocaloric air cooling by coil-bending

Elastocaloric cooling has emerged as an eco-friendly technology capable of eliminating greenhouse-gas refrigerants. However, its development is limited by the large driving force and low efficiency in uniaxial loading modes. Here, we present a low-force and energy-efficient elastocaloric air cooling approach based on coil-bending of NiTi ribbons/wires. Our air cooler achieves continuous cold outlet air with a temperature drop of 10.6 K and a specific cooling power of 2.5 W g-1 at a low specific driving force of 26 N g-1. Notably, the cooler shows a system coefficient of performance of 3.7 (ratio of cooling power to rotational mechanical power). These values are realized by the large specific heat transfer area (12.6 cm2 g-1) and the constant cold zone of NiTi wires. Our coil-bending system exhibits a competitive performance among caloric air coolers.

High cooling performance in a double-loop electrocaloric heat pump

Cooling through solid-state electrocaloric materials is an attractive replacement for vapor compression. Despite recent efforts, devices that are potentially commercially competitive have not been developed. We present an electrocaloric cooler with a maximum temperature span of 20.9 kelvin and a maximum cooling power of 4.2 watts under the moderate applied electric field of 10 volts per micrometer without any observed breakdown. Moreover, the maximum coefficient of performance, even taking into account energy expended on fluid pumping, reaches 64% of Carnot's efficiency as long as energy is properly recovered. We believe that this demonstration shows electrocaloric cooling to be a very promising alternative to vapor compression cooling.

High-performance multimode elastocaloric cooling system

Developing zero-global warming potential refrigerants has emerged as one area that helps address global climate change concerns. Various high-efficiency caloric cooling techniques meet this goal, but scaling them up to technologically meaningful performance remains challenging. We have developed an elastocaloric cooling system with a maximum cooling power of 260 watts and a maximum temperature span of 22.5 kelvin. These values are among the highest reported for any caloric cooling system. Its key feature is the compression of fatigue-resistant elastocaloric nitinol (NiTi) tubes configured in a versatile multimode heat exchange architecture, which allows the harnessing of both high delivered cooling power and large temperature spans. Our system shows that elastocaloric cooling, which only emerged 8 years ago, is a promising direction for commercializing caloric cooling.

Ionocaloric refrigeration cycle

Developing high-efficiency cooling with safe, low-global warming potential refrigerants is a grand challenge for tackling climate change. Caloric effect-based cooling technologies, such as magneto- or electrocaloric refrigeration, are promising but often require large applied fields for a relatively low coefficient of performance and adiabatic temperature change. We propose using the ionocaloric effect and the accompanying thermodynamic cycle as a caloric-based, all-condensed-phase cooling technology. Theoretical and experimental results show higher adiabatic temperature change and entropy change per unit mass and volume compared with other caloric effects under low applied field strengths. We demonstrated the viability of a practical system using an ionocaloric Stirling refrigeration cycle. Our experimental results show a coefficient of performance of 30% relative to Carnot and a temperature lift as high as 25°C using a voltage strength of ~0.22 volts.

Cool it, with a pinch of salt

Melting a solvent with a salt and then desalinating it enables a reversible cooling cycle.