Slovenian Research Agency reaffirmed our excellence in science
Demonstration cooling device based on electrocaloric effect
The collaborators of the Laboratory for Refrigeration and District Energy of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Ljubljana and the departments of Electronic Ceramics and Condensed Matter Physics of the Jozef Stefan Institute were among the first in the world to produce a demonstration cooling device based on an electrocaloric effect.
Lead-perovskite-based relaxor ferroelectric ceramics exhibit an electrocaloric temperature change under the influence of an electric field, up to ≈3.5 K at 160 kV/cm, which is among the best results in the world. The concept of heat transfer by active regeneration in the device with cooling elements in the form of thin ceramic plates, where the liquid is counter-flowing in contact with the source and sink of heat, is presented in the figure. Compared to existing refrigeration technologies, electrocaloric cooling provides a very high efficiency and has no harmful effects on the environment. The invention is patented in the EU, the US and China, and the patent was purchased by the company Gorenje.
The achievement was awarded with the award Excellence in Science, which is one of the projects of the Slovenian Research Agency in the framework of the promotion of science. The Agency stimulates the presentation of scientific achievements to the professional and general public, and actively promotes the link between the needs of society and the solutions that science can offer. Demonstration cooling device based on electrocaloric effect represents all of the above, as it is an invention that is protected in the EU, the US and China and the patent has been purchased by the company Gorenje. It therefore represents a remarkable achievement in science that we, as a society, can exploit.
MALIČ, Barbara, URŠIČ NEMEVŠEK, Hana, KOSEC, Marija, DRNOVŠEK, Silvo, CILENŠEK, Jena, KUTNJAK, Zdravko, ROŽIČ, Brigita, FLISAR, Uroš, KITANOVSKI, Andrej, OŽBOLT, Marko, PLAZNIK, Uroš, POREDOŠ, Alojz, TOMC, Urban, TUŠEK, Jaka. Method for electrocaloric energy conversion: United States Patent US9915446 (B2), 2018-03-13. [S. l.]: United States Patent and Trademark Office, 2018.