A compact elastocaloric refrigerator
Elastocaloric cooling is regarded as one of the most promising cutting-edge alternatives to conventional vapor compression refrigeration systems. This technology is based on the temperature change of materials when being subjected to uniaxial stress, which has been observed in polymers, alloys, and...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2022-03-01
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| Series: | The Innovation |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666675822000017 |
| _version_ | 1819294850600665088 |
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| author | Yanliang Chen Yao Wang Wen Sun Suxin Qian Jian Liu |
| author_facet | Yanliang Chen Yao Wang Wen Sun Suxin Qian Jian Liu |
| author_sort | Yanliang Chen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Elastocaloric cooling is regarded as one of the most promising cutting-edge alternatives to conventional vapor compression refrigeration systems. This technology is based on the temperature change of materials when being subjected to uniaxial stress, which has been observed in polymers, alloys, and ceramics. However, the existing elastocaloric prototypes have a bottleneck problem of an excessive mass ratio between the actuator and the solid-state refrigerant. To overcome this challenge, this study proposes an elastocaloric refrigerator using a single actuator with an inclined angle to produce a vertical tensile force to nickel-titanium (NiTi) shape-memory wires and a lateral motion to translate the NiTi wires between the hot and cold sides. The refrigerator can achieve a 90% improvement in the mass ratio between the solid-state refrigerant and actuator compared to the currently best-reported elastocaloric cooling prototype. The NiTi wires exhibit an adiabatic temperature change of 6.6 K during unloading at the strain of 4.8%. The proposed refrigerator can achieve a 9.2-K temperature span when the heat source and sink are insulated from ambient and has a cooling power up to 3.1 W under zero-temperature-span condition. By using thinner NiTi wires or NiTi plates, the developed elastocaloric refrigerator could be a starting point to promote applications of this technology in the future. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-24T04:32:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-879df36f8b4941f38508e230e6a99a03 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2666-6758 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-24T04:32:52Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Innovation |
| spelling | doaj.art-879df36f8b4941f38508e230e6a99a032022-12-21T17:15:21ZengElsevierThe Innovation2666-67582022-03-0132100205A compact elastocaloric refrigeratorYanliang Chen0Yao Wang1Wen Sun2Suxin Qian3Jian Liu4Department of Refrigeration and Cryogenic Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shanxi 710049, ChinaDepartment of Refrigeration and Cryogenic Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shanxi 710049, ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, and Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Application Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, ChinaDepartment of Refrigeration and Cryogenic Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shanxi 710049, China; Corresponding authorCAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, and Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Application Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, China; Corresponding authorElastocaloric cooling is regarded as one of the most promising cutting-edge alternatives to conventional vapor compression refrigeration systems. This technology is based on the temperature change of materials when being subjected to uniaxial stress, which has been observed in polymers, alloys, and ceramics. However, the existing elastocaloric prototypes have a bottleneck problem of an excessive mass ratio between the actuator and the solid-state refrigerant. To overcome this challenge, this study proposes an elastocaloric refrigerator using a single actuator with an inclined angle to produce a vertical tensile force to nickel-titanium (NiTi) shape-memory wires and a lateral motion to translate the NiTi wires between the hot and cold sides. The refrigerator can achieve a 90% improvement in the mass ratio between the solid-state refrigerant and actuator compared to the currently best-reported elastocaloric cooling prototype. The NiTi wires exhibit an adiabatic temperature change of 6.6 K during unloading at the strain of 4.8%. The proposed refrigerator can achieve a 9.2-K temperature span when the heat source and sink are insulated from ambient and has a cooling power up to 3.1 W under zero-temperature-span condition. By using thinner NiTi wires or NiTi plates, the developed elastocaloric refrigerator could be a starting point to promote applications of this technology in the future.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666675822000017elastocaloric coolingshape-memory alloyssuper-elastic alloysNitinolnot-in-kind cooling |
| spellingShingle | Yanliang Chen Yao Wang Wen Sun Suxin Qian Jian Liu A compact elastocaloric refrigerator The Innovation elastocaloric cooling shape-memory alloys super-elastic alloys Nitinol not-in-kind cooling |
| title | A compact elastocaloric refrigerator |
| title_full | A compact elastocaloric refrigerator |
| title_fullStr | A compact elastocaloric refrigerator |
| title_full_unstemmed | A compact elastocaloric refrigerator |
| title_short | A compact elastocaloric refrigerator |
| title_sort | compact elastocaloric refrigerator |
| topic | elastocaloric cooling shape-memory alloys super-elastic alloys Nitinol not-in-kind cooling |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666675822000017 |
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