Giant temperature span and cooling power in elastocaloric regenerator

Elastocaloric cooling is a promising greenhouse-gas-free alternative to the conventional vapor-compression refrigeration which relies on high global-warming-potential refrigerants. However, the limited temperature span and cooling power in existing elastocaloric devices restrict the commercialization of this technology. Here, we build a compact compression-based regenerative elastocaloric de-vice using a tubular NiTi regenerator of spiral cross-section. The large specific heat transfer area of the spiral structure enables fast heat transfer between NiTi and fluid, whereas a sufficient regenera-tive length facilitates a large temperature span along the fluid-flow direction. Our device achieves a temperature span of 50.6 K on the water side and a cooling power of 203 W, and it endures over 1 million compressive phase-transition cycles. These results surpass those of all existing elastocaloric devices, paving the way for the large-scale commercialization of this technology.

Automated summary

In this study, a compact compression-based regenerative elastocaloric device was built using a tubular NiTi regenerator of spiral cross-section. The device achieved a large temperature span and cooling power, surpassing existing elastocaloric devices and paving the way for large-scale commercialization of this technology.