Magnetocaloric and Caloric Materials for Solid-State Cooling

A special issue of Magnetochemistry (ISSN 2312-7481). This special issue belongs to the section "Magnetic Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 11774

Special Issue Editors

Department of Industrial Engineering (DII), University of Naples Federico II, 80138 Naples, Italy
Interests: caloric cooling; vapor compression plants; refrigerant fluids; convective boiling; nanofluids; earth–air heat exchangers; renewable energy systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Industrial Engineering (DII), University of Naples Federico II, 80138 Naples, Italy
Interests: magnetocaloric; electrocaloric; barocaloric; elastocaloric; caloric; renewable energy; nanofluids; vapor compression; heat transfer

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The demand for energy is growing continuously, and more than 20% of energy consumption is due to refrigeration and air conditioning. Most refrigeration and air-conditioning systems are based on vapor compression technology. In spite of the enormous efforts over the last two decades to reduce energy consumption, we are still far from having acceptable threshold levels. Among the many reasons for such data, in some sectors, the persistent link to the technologies of yesterday are due to the absence of adequate substitutes. The scientific community has devoted huge efforts toward developing possible alternative cooling techniques that are ecological, demonstrate good performance, and are characterized by low energy consumption. Among these alternatives is caloric cooling. Caloric refrigeration embraces four other main cooling techniques linked to a group of materials that show magnetocaloric, electrocaloric, elastocaloric, and barocaloric effects—phenomena where variation in the temperature of caloric material is registered when an applied external field adiabatically changes its intensity. This Special Issue is focused on caloric materials and welcomes papers on the analysis—either experimental or numerical—of their properties and on their testing in energy systems for cooling.

Prof. Adriana Greco
Dr. Claudia Masselli
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • solid-state
  • caloric
  • magnetocaloric
  • electrocaloric
  • elastocaloric
  • barocaloric
  • effect
  • cooling
  • materials
  • energy

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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22 pages, 4021 KiB  
Article
Numerical Optimization of a Single Bunch of NiTi Wires to Be Placed in an Elastocaloric Experimental Device: Preliminary Results
by Luca Cirillo, Adriana Rosaria Farina, Adriana Greco and Claudia Masselli
Magnetochemistry 2021, 7(5), 67; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/magnetochemistry7050067 - 15 May 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1794
Abstract
Italy has not yet presented to the scientific community any elastocaloric prototype suitable for refrigeration/air conditioning. The SUSSTAINEBLE project was born from the idea to build a demonstrative elastocaloric prototype for environmental conditioning. The prototype is planned to be rotary and composed by [...] Read more.
Italy has not yet presented to the scientific community any elastocaloric prototype suitable for refrigeration/air conditioning. The SUSSTAINEBLE project was born from the idea to build a demonstrative elastocaloric prototype for environmental conditioning. The prototype is planned to be rotary and composed by a few bunches of elastocaloric wires crossed by air as heat transfer fluid. Many are the parameters to be investigated before the realization of the device. A numerical practical tool would help to easily optimize the prototype. In this paper a two-dimensional tool of a single bunch of elastocaloric wires based on finite-element method is introduced; it can reproduce step by step the velocity and the pressure field of fluid to predict more accurately the solid-to-fluid heat exchange. The results of a test campaign mostly focused on the optimization of the frequency of the cycle, fluid velocity and the distance between the elastocaloric wires are presented. The results reveal that: (i) 0.12 Hz as frequency; (ii) 7 m s−1 as velocity; (iii) 1.0 mm as optimal wire distance, would better satisfy the trade-off existing in the maximization of temperature span and cooling power per mass unit: 23.7 K and 311.97 W kg−1 are the values achieved, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Magnetocaloric and Caloric Materials for Solid-State Cooling)
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18 pages, 1968 KiB  
Article
Tuning the Magnetocaloric Properties of the La(Fe,Si)13 Compounds by Chemical Substitution and Light Element Insertion
by Valérie Paul-Boncour and Lotfi Bessais
Magnetochemistry 2021, 7(1), 13; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/magnetochemistry7010013 - 14 Jan 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2877
Abstract
LaFe13xSix compounds exhibit a giant magnetocaloric effect and they are considered as a good magnetocaloric working substance for an environmentally friendly cooling technique. Nevertheless as the Curie temperature TC is around 200 K, it is necessary to [...] Read more.
LaFe13xSix compounds exhibit a giant magnetocaloric effect and they are considered as a good magnetocaloric working substance for an environmentally friendly cooling technique. Nevertheless as the Curie temperature TC is around 200 K, it is necessary to tune TC near room temperature for magnetic refrigeration. In this work we present a review of the various methods of synthesis and shaping of the LaFe13xSix type compounds as well as the influence of chemical substitution, light element insertion or combination of both on TC, magnetic entropy and adiabatic temperature variation (ΔSM and ΔTad), and stability upon cycling. The advantages and drawbacks of each method of preparation and type of element substitution/insertion are discussed. The implementation of these NaZn13 type materials in active magnetic refrigerator is presented and their performances are compared to that of Gd in prototypes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Magnetocaloric and Caloric Materials for Solid-State Cooling)
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Review

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33 pages, 4095 KiB  
Review
Electrocaloric Cooling: A Review of the Thermodynamic Cycles, Materials, Models, and Devices
by Adriana Greco and Claudia Masselli
Magnetochemistry 2020, 6(4), 67; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/magnetochemistry6040067 - 27 Nov 2020
Cited by 30 | Viewed by 6182
Abstract
Electrocaloric is a novel emerging not-in-kind cooling technology based on solid-state materials exhibiting the electrocaloric effect, i.e., the property of changing their temperature because of an adiabatic change in the intensity of the electric field applied. This technology has only attracted the interests [...] Read more.
Electrocaloric is a novel emerging not-in-kind cooling technology based on solid-state materials exhibiting the electrocaloric effect, i.e., the property of changing their temperature because of an adiabatic change in the intensity of the electric field applied. This technology has only attracted the interests of the scientific community in the last two decades, even though it has the main feature of being based on eco-friendly materials that, because of their solid-state nature, do not provide a direct contribution in global warming. Even if some steps have already been taken, the research fields connected to electrocaloric cooling are still open: The identification of the most appropriated thermodynamic cycle, electrocaloric refrigerants, as well as the development of efficient cooling systems. To this purpose, this review paper provides a snapshot of the electrocaloric world and compares the progress made by the inherent scientific community in all the connected fields: the thermodynamic cycles, materials, experimental devices, numerical models, energy performances and prospective cooling applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Magnetocaloric and Caloric Materials for Solid-State Cooling)
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