Engineers develop eco-friendly cooling device with record-breaking efficiency

Researchers on the Faculty of Engineering of the Hong Kong College of Science and Expertise (HKUST) have developed an eco-friendly refrigeration gadget with record-breaking cooling efficiency, setting the stage for remodeling industries reliant on cooling and lowering international vitality use.

With a lift in effectivity of over 48%, the brand new elastocaloric cooling know-how opens a promising avenue for accelerating the commercialization of this disruptive know-how and addressing the environmental challenges related to conventional cooling methods.

Conventional vapor compression refrigeration know-how depends on refrigerants of excessive international warming potential. Stable-state elastocaloric refrigeration primarily based on latent warmth within the cyclic section transition of form reminiscence alloys (SMAs) gives an environmentally pleasant different, with its traits of greenhouse gas-free, 100% recyclable and energy-efficient SMA refrigerants.

However the comparatively small temperature carry between 20 and 50 Okay, which is a important efficiency indicator of the cooling gadget’s potential to switch warmth from a low-temperature supply to a high-temperature sink, has hindered the commercialization of this rising know-how.

To beat the problem, the analysis workforce led by Prof. Solar Qingping and Prof. Yao Shuhuai from the Division of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering has developed a multi-material cascading elastocaloric cooling gadget fabricated from nickel-titanium (NiTi) formed reminiscence alloys and broke the world document for its cooling efficiency.

They chose three NiTi alloys with completely different section transition temperatures to function on the chilly finish, intermediate finish, and scorching finish, respectively. By matching the working temperatures of every unit with the corresponding section transition temperatures, the general gadget’s superelastic temperature window was expanded to over 100 Okay and every NiTi unit operated inside its optimum temperature vary, considerably enhancing the cooling effectivity.

The constructed multi-material cascading elastocaloric cooling gadget achieved a temperature carry of 75 Okay on the water facet, surpassing the earlier world document of fifty.6 Okay. Their analysis breakthrough, titled “A Multi-Material Cascade Elastocaloric Cooling Device for Large Temperature Lift,” was printed in Nature Vitality.

Constructing on the success in creating elastocaloric cooling supplies and architectures with many patents and papers printed in main journals, the analysis workforce plans to additional develop high-performance form reminiscence alloys and units for sub-zero elastocaloric cooling and high-temperature warmth pumping purposes. They may proceed to optimize material properties and develop high-energy environment friendly refrigeration methods to drive the commercialization of this modern know-how.

Area cooling and heating account for 20% of the world’s complete electrical energy consumption and, in line with trade estimates, are projected to turn into the second-largest supply of worldwide electrical energy demand by 2050.

“In the future, with the continuous advancement of materials science and mechanical engineeringwe are confident that elastocaloric refrigeration can provide next-generation green and energy-efficient cooling and heating solutions to feed the huge worldwide refrigeration market, addressing the urgent task of decarbonization and global warming mitigation,” Prof. Solar mentioned.