A fundamentally new method of cooling has been discovered. Free Technical Library News

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Discovered a fundamentally new way of cooling

17.01.2023

Standard refrigeration systems operate with refrigerated gas as it expands. This method is extremely efficient, but the gases used in it are extremely harmful to the environment.

In a new study, a team of scientists from Lawrence National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley focused on inventing a revolutionary way of cooling that was not only efficient and cost effective, but also environmentally friendly.

The new method the researchers have developed is called ionocalloric cooling, which takes advantage of the storage and release of energy when the phase of a material changes, such as when water changes from solid to liquid.

According to mechanical engineer Drew Lilly, one way to make ice melt without heating is to add a few charged particles or ions. The most common example of this in action is the sprinkling of salt on ice in winter—essentially, the ionocaloric cycle also uses salt to change the phase of the liquid and cool the environment.

The refrigerant landscape is one of the biggest unresolved issues today. Until now, no one has been able to create an alternative solution that would cool food as effectively and at the same time be safe and environmentally friendly.

Researchers suggest that it is the ionocaloric cycle that can help achieve all these goals, but the main task is its correct implementation. In the course of the study, the scientists developed the theory of the ionocaloric cycle to demonstrate how it could potentially compete with, and possibly outperform, the refrigeration systems in use today.

The scientists developed a model in which a current passing through the system would move ions in it, thereby shifting the melting point of the material in order to change the temperature. The researchers later confirmed the theory with laboratory experiments using salt (made from iodine and sodium). Note that this organic solvent is used in lithium-ion batteries and is produced using carbon as a starting material. As a result, this approach can make the system zero, but also negative.

During the experiments, scientists were able to reproduce a temperature shift of 25 degrees Celsius with less than one volt of electricity charge. This result surpasses anything scientists have been able to achieve with other technologies.

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