Ferrocaloric materials (magnetocaloric, barocaloric, elastocaloric, electrocaloric) transform a changes in an external field to a change in the temperature or entropy of a system. This can be used to design high-efficiency refrigeration cycles or heat pumps. Despite this promise, transformation kinetics, thermodynamic irreversibilities, and other real aspects of the first order phase transformation detract from the ability of thermodynamic cycles to perform useful work. We have:
- Identified methods to modify the hysteresis in caloric effect materials
- Explained size-dependencies in thin films and small particles
- Developed an approach to analyze arbitrary thermodynamic cycles for different classes of materials on an equivalent basis
Applications: Buildings, Aerospace/Automotive, Gas Liquifaction, Appliance, Cryogenic Cooling
Projects: