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

Ahčin, Žiga (author), DallʹOlio, Stefano (author), Žerovnik, Andrej (author), Žvar Baškovič, Urban (author), Porenta, Luka (author), Kabirifar, Parham (author), Cerar, Jan (author), Zupan, Samo (author), Brojan, Miha (author), Klemenc, Jernej (author), Tušek, Jaka (author)

In recent years, elastocaloric cooling has shown great potential as an alternative to vapor-compression refrigeration. However, there is still no existing elastocaloric device that offers fatigue-resistant operation and yet high cooling/heat-pumping performance. Here, we introduce a new design of an elastocaloric regenerator based on compression-loaded Ni–Ti tubes, referred to as a shell-and-tube-like elastocaloric regenerator. Our regenerator design, which can operate in both cooling and heat-pumping modes, enables durable operation and record performance with a maximum temperature span of 31.3 K in heat-pumping mode or maximum heating/cooling powers of more than 60 W, equivalent to 4,400 W/kg of the elastocaloric material (at temperature span of 10 K). In terms of both maximum performance metrics, these results surpass all previously developed caloric (magnetocaloric, electrocaloric, and elastocaloric) devices and demonstrate the enormous potential of compression-loaded elastocaloric regenerators to be used in elastocaloric devices for a wide range of cooling and heat-pumping applications.

• Language: English
• Keywords: elastocaloric effect, caloric cooling, heating, heat-pumps, shape-memory alloys, tubes, Ni–Ti, compressive loading, fatigue efficiency, fatigue, efficiency
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FS - Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: Str. 2338-2357
• Numbering: Vol. 6, iss. 10
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-142647
• UDC: 539.3
• ISSN on article: 2542-4351
• DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2022.08.011
• COBISS.SI-ID: 122510851
• Publication date in RUL: 17.11.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Joule
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 2542-4351
• COBISS.SI-ID: 20280835

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: elastokalorični učinek, hlajenje, ogrevanje, toplotne črpalke, regenereatorji, Ni-Ti, materiali z oblikovnim spominom, trajno-dinamična trdnost

Projects

• Funder: EC - European Commission
• Funding programme: H2020
• Project number: 803669
• Name: Superelastic Porous Structures for Efficient Elastocaloric Cooling
• Acronym: SUPERCOOL

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: P2-0422
• Name: Funkcionalne tekočine za napredne energetske sisteme