Cool BatMan project as a part of the M-ERA.NET tender
The Laboratory for Refrigeration and District Energy (LAHDE) won the three-year Cool BatMan project as a part of the M-ERA.NET tender entitled Battery Thermal Management System Based on High Power Density Digital Microfluidic Magnetocaloric Cooling (Cool BatMan). It is a consortium of 4 quality institutions where LAHDE acts as a leading organization. In addition, it is also a gender-balanced consortium (two female researchers, two male researchers), which is one of the evaluation criteria in M-ERA and similar EU research platforms (H2020). The members of the consortium are:
- Faculty of mechanical engineering, Laboratory for refrigeration and district energy (dr. Urban Tomc)
- Jožef Stefan Institut, electronic ceramic department K5 (prof. dr. Hana Uršič Nemevšek)
- Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden, (dr. Maria Krautz)
- Universitat de Barcelona, Department de Fisica de la Materia Condensada, (prof. dr. Lluis Mañosa)
The goal of the Cool BatMan project is to establish a fundamental understanding of the dynamic thermal behavior of two physical phenomena coupled in a compact magnetocaloric cooling device. The magnetocaloric material (as a result, the magnetocaloric effect) will be combined with the phenomenon of electrowetting on the dielectric (i.e. digital microfluidics), which will create a unique principle of magnetocaloric cooling, which could be used as a thermal management system for batteries in the future.
In addition to coordinating the project, the Laboratory for Refrigeration and District Energy will be responsible for the electrohydrodynamic and thermomagnetic numerical modeling of the new proposed principle of magnetocaloric cooling with the implementation of digital microfluidics. The modeling results will provide important guidelines in the intermediate and final steps in fabrication of the “proof-of-concept” of an experimental cooling device, which will also finally be built and tested at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.
The European Commission is financing the M-ERA.NET network, which was established with the aim of connecting European research programs and their funding. It specifically focuses on innovations in the field of functional materials, thereby supporting the guidelines of the Green Deal.
