Heat4Energy
Heat4Energy: Magnetic ENERGY conversion for waste HEAT
- Project number: 101119852
- Project name: Magnetic ENERGY conversion for waste HEAT
- Project acronym: HEAT4ENERGY
- Call: HORIZON-MSCA-2022-DN-01
- Topic: HORIZON-MSCA-2022-DN-01-01
- Type of action: HORIZON TMA MSCA Doctoral Networks
- Granting authority: European Research Executive Agency
- Grant managed through EU Funding & Tenders Portal: Yes (eGrants)
- Project website: https://heat4energy.eu/
- Project duration: 1 January 2024 – 31 December 2027
- Coordinator: TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT (TU Delft).
- Collaboration of 16 organizations from 6 EU countries.
Approximately half of the annual global energy use is related to waste heat, and as much as 63% of this waste heat refers to temperatures below 100 degrees Celsius.
Unfortunately, there are not many technologies that enable us to recover this low-grade waste heat. Organic Rankine Cycle technologies allow us to recover waste heat from temperatures above 80 degrees Celsius. But for temperatures lower than 80 degrees, the solution right now is thermoelectric modules based on the Seebeck effect, which includes semiconductor materials, and it is not efficient, because such devices can only achieve 10% exergy efficiency.
One of the alternative solutions with higher exergy efficiency for transforming low-grade waste heat into energy or mechanical work is thermomagnetic generators, which uses the influence of temperature on the ferromagnetic materials, that undergo a reversible magnetic transition during heating and cooling.
To date, there has been no thermomagnetic generator that would enable energy-efficient energy conversion with simultaneous heat regeneration and high-frequency operation.
In this project, we will show that thermomagnetic energy harvesting can be an energy-efficient and compact technology capable of addressing existing and future power generation challenges. Special attention will be paid to the utilization of various low-grade heat sources from a minimum of 40 to a maximum of 100 °C, which account for about 40 % of waste heat from industrial processes. For these, especially below 60-80°C, there is a lack of available, scalable, cost-effective, and energy-efficient technologies for the conversion of waste heat into electricity.
The final aim of this project is to investigate various designs of a low-temperature, high-frequency, and regenerative thermomagnetic generator of power up to 100 W and, based on the analysis, to realize a demonstration device that can be used to experimentally confirm the concept, and evaluate the operation under different operating conditions. The specific goals for the project are:
- The thermomagnetic generator can operate with a power of up to 100 W in the temperature range between 40°C and 80°C, achieving an exergy efficiency of over 10%.
- The regenerator of the thermomagnetic generator enables operation at frequencies of up to 25 Hz and at the same time ensures significantly lower viscous losses compared to existing active magnetic regenerators.
HEAT4ENERGY is a EU-Horizon Europe MSCA Doctoral Network project. It is in line with the objectives of the European Green Deal.
Keywords:
- Computational engineering and computer aided design
- Computational modelling
- Energy collection, conversion and storage, renewable energy
- Energy systems, smart energy, smart grids, wireless energy transfer
- Materials engineering
- Thermomagnetic energy harvesting, Thin film microdevices, Novel Magnetic materials, Phase transition, Heat transfer
Questions?
Do not hesitate to contact us via e-mail or by telephone. You can also visit us at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Ljubljana
Aškerceva ul. 6
1000 Ljubljana
Slovenia