New IIR Informatory Note on caloric cooling technologies 

The IIR has just published a new Informatory Note on caloric cooling technologies prepared by Yunho Hwang (President of IIR Commission B1 ”Thermodynamics & transfer processes”) and Suxin Qian (Junior member of Commission B1).

 

Caloric cooling is a group of cutting-edge, solid-state, not-in-kind cooling technologies that do not use any global warming fluids. This Informatory Note introduces the principles, characteristics, performance, and application prospects of three major caloric cooling technologies, i.e., magnetocaloric (MC), electrocaloric (EC), and elastocaloric (eC). 

 

The performance of today’s caloric cooling and heat pump systems is already sufficient for some niche applications. MC is currently the most developed caloric cooling technology with nearly 100 prototypes reported, but EC and especially eC materials have a greater caloric effect and specificities allowing higher cooling powers and wider applications. Caloric materials also have the advantage of serving both as working fluids and thermal energy storage materials. 

 

The note concludes with a series of recommendations for decision-makers to support research into new materials and improved performance of caloric cooling systems in order to promote the development of these very promising technologies. 

 

This Informatory Note can be downloaded from FRIDOC by following the link below (free for IIR members): https://iifiir.org/en/fridoc/caloric-cooling-technologies-50-lt-sup-gt-th-lt-sup-gt-informatory-note-on-146206 

 

A Summary for policymakers outlining the main conclusions and recommendations of this Informatory Note is also available in open access.