55 votes

Goodbye refrigerants, hello magnets: Scientists develop cleaner, greener heat pump

10 comments

  1. [4]
    scroll_lock
    Link
    Comment box Scope: comment response Tone: neutral Opinion: yes, technically Sarcasm/humor: none Whoa... I had posted something about electrocaloric cooling systems earlier, but "magnetocaloric" is...
    Comment box
    • Scope: comment response
    • Tone: neutral
    • Opinion: yes, technically
    • Sarcasm/humor: none

    Whoa... I had posted something about electrocaloric cooling systems earlier, but "magnetocaloric" is a new term to me. How interesting to see this research coming out of the federal government.

    Hope that this can be commercialized for general use relatively quickly!

    13 votes
    1. [3]
      SloMoMonday
      Link Parent
      This makes me think of my late uncle who's pet project was some sort of domestic thermal interchange cell. It was way above my head but he used to design them for industry and he was very...

      This makes me think of my late uncle who's pet project was some sort of domestic thermal interchange cell. It was way above my head but he used to design them for industry and he was very interested in minimizing costs by effectively moving energy instead of generating more of it. He had plans for some sort of one-way heat trap, designs to adapt it into AC systems and a cool type of stovetop/oven that would hold all this energy, with induction plates to make the difference.

      I'm sure refrigerant dependency was one of the big road blocks so would have loved this.

      Tempted to fork out a few bucks for the actual paper and try to figure out exactly what goes into it.

      7 votes
      1. Greg
        Link Parent
        That’s really cool! Looks like the preprint is available for free if you’re interested: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4882758 I hadn’t come across SSRN before and now I’m a...

        That’s really cool! Looks like the preprint is available for free if you’re interested: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4882758

        I hadn’t come across SSRN before and now I’m a little concerned that Elsevier are trying to embrace-extend-extinguish arxiv, but seems a useful resource for now at least

        5 votes
      2. PuddleOfKittens
        Link Parent
        If you want a copy of the paper, try directly emailing the authors to ask for a copy. AIUI they can't publish it for free, but they can personally email unlimited numbers of copies to people.

        If you want a copy of the paper, try directly emailing the authors to ask for a copy. AIUI they can't publish it for free, but they can personally email unlimited numbers of copies to people.

        3 votes
  2. [2]
    Englerdy
    Link
    This is cool. Went looking for info on what the COP of these would be to compare to a regular heat pump and found this other paper that might be interesting to others here (paper should be open...

    This is cool. Went looking for info on what the COP of these would be to compare to a regular heat pump and found this other paper that might be interesting to others here (paper should be open access as far as I can tell): Seasonal COP of a residential magnetocaloric heat pump based on MnFePSiCOP saisonnier d’une pompe á chaleur magnétocalorique á base de matériaux MnFePSi.

    Looks like they find a theoretical seasonal COP of about 5.6 and estimate a real system that's using components that are 80% efficient could get a COP of 4.6. That's pretty remarkable unless I'm misinterpreting something as traditional AC & Heat pumps have COPs around 3 (though in cold climates I think Heat Pumps are operating in the 2.5 range).

    Neat stuff!

    5 votes
    1. Markpelly
      Link Parent
      Thanks for sharing. I'll have to take a look!

      Thanks for sharing. I'll have to take a look!

      1 vote
  3. [4]
    mild_takes
    Link
    Its kind of unclear to me reading that... did they actually build one or is this just theory?

    Its kind of unclear to me reading that... did they actually build one or is this just theory?

    1. [3]
      scroll_lock
      Link Parent
      Comment box Scope: comment response, quotation Tone: neutral Opinion: none Sarcasm/humor: none It appears that they physically built it, and that these already existed physically.
      Comment box
      • Scope: comment response, quotation
      • Tone: neutral
      • Opinion: none
      • Sarcasm/humor: none

      It appears that they physically built it, and that these already existed physically.

      Julie Slaughter, the research team leader, explained that their investigation began by building a magnetocaloric heat pump. “We first looked at what is out there, and how close the existing magnetocaloric devices are to matching compressors,” she said. “Next we developed a baseline design and then asked, ‘Okay, now how far can we push the technology?’”

      1. [2]
        mild_takes
        Link Parent
        Not to sound too cynical, but that could mean a few things. The Wikipedia article on the tech says that some examples of this have been built so I don't doubt the tech exists to some degree in the...

        Not to sound too cynical, but that could mean a few things. The Wikipedia article on the tech says that some examples of this have been built so I don't doubt the tech exists to some degree in the real world. Also after only having a quick look at this tech thismorning (I've never heard of it before now) it looks like the temperature difference they're getting by this effect is only a few degrees at best. So are the using multiple stages or is this just some useless prototype that cools things by 2 degrees... I tried reading the preview of the scientific article but my eyes are just glazing over.

        1 vote
        1. Markpelly
          Link Parent
          I think it would be good for someone to find what they are comparing this to. A lot of heat pumps nowadays have a COP of 3 or more down to 32 F. If they are comparing the COP to the avg heat pump...

          I think it would be good for someone to find what they are comparing this to. A lot of heat pumps nowadays have a COP of 3 or more down to 32 F. If they are comparing the COP to the avg heat pump in the market, at varying temperatures, and it is close in comparison to cost and efficiency...that's a huge win.