Giant multiple caloric effects in charge transition ferrimagnet

Caloric effects of solids can provide us with innovative refrigeration systems more efficient and environment-friendly than the widely-used conventional vapor-compression cooling systems. Exploring novel caloric materials is challenging but critically important in developing future technologies. Here we discovered that the quadruple perovskite structure ferrimagnet BiCu3Cr4O12 shows large multiple caloric effects at the first-order charge transition occurring around 190 K. Large latent heat and the corresponding isothermal entropy change, 28.2 J K−1 kg−1, can be utilized by applying both magnetic fields (a magnetocaloric effect) and pressure (a barocaloric effect). Adiabatic temperature changes reach 3.9 K for the 50 kOe magnetic field and 4.8 K for the 4.9 kbar pressure, and thus highly efficient thermal controls are achieved in multiple ways.

Optimized Refrigerant Flow Rate and Dimensions of the Ejector Employed in a Modified Ejector Vapor Compression System

This paper presents the analysis of a modified vapor compression cooling system which uses an ejector as an expansion device. Expanding refrigerant in an ejector enhances the refrigeration effect and reduces compressor work. Therefore, it yields a better coefficient of performance. Thermodynamic analysis of a constant area ejector model has been done to obtain primary dimensions of the ejector for given condenser and evaporator temperature and cooling capacity. The proposed model has been used to design the ejector for three refrigerants; R134a, R152a and R1234yf. The refrigerant flow rate and the diameters at various sections of the ejector have been obtained by doing numerical modeling in Engineering Equation Solver (EES). Refrigerant R1234yf demanded the highest diameter requirements at a fixed 5∘C evaporator temperature and 40∘C condenser temperature for a given range of cooling load. Both primary and secondary refrigerants flow rates are higher for R1234yf followed by R134a and then R152a.

Matching Testing Possibilities and Needed Experiments for Successful Vapor Compression Cycles in Microgravity

The literature shows five decades of interest in vapor compression cooling for spacecraft, while only very few conclusions can be drawn because of either non-systematic approaches or sparsely documented experiments. In contrast, the demand for high COP refrigerators and freezers has increased with the emerging plans of long duration manned space travel. Research is needed exploiting all available testing approaches to investigate two-phase cycles in microgravity environments. This paper presents relevant testing possibilities with their characteristics and outlines open questions regarding vapor compression cycles in space. Beneficial experiments are derived from open questions and matched with available testing methods to prescribe a path towards reliable and efficient refrigeration systems in microgravity.

Performance Enhancement of Solar Air Conditioners Using Hybrid Heat Rejection System

The performance of air conditioning systems is highly dependent on the environmental conditions of the high pressure side, where heat is rejected to the environment. Air conditioning systems utilize dry cooling systems which often don’t provide adequate cooling during peak cooling periods, or wet cooling systems which consume a lot of water. In this study, a novel hybrid cooling system that can provide both wet and dry cooling was modelled in TRNSYS, and used to provide cooling to closed sorption air conditioning systems. The performance of these systems with the hybrid cooling system was compared to the performance of a standard vapor compression cooling system being cooled by a dry cooling system. The COPsol of the vapor compression cooling system exhibited a decrease of almost 26% during the summer period, whereas the COPsol of the sorption systems increased by around 30%. Similarly, the cooling capacity of the vapor compression cooling system dropped by almost 5%, and for the sorption systems, it increased by around 20% during the summer period.