Solid State Refrigeration

Dear Colleagues,

Worldwide, about 17% of the overall energy consumption originates from refrigeration. Most of the refrigeration applications are based on vapor compression plants. They are characterized by the use of environmentally-harmful refrigerants. Therefore, the scientific community has devoted its attention toward non-vapor-compression technologies for refrigeration and air conditioning. Between these technologies, solid-state cooling methods promise high system efficiency. When the refrigerant is solid, it has essentially zero vapor pressure and, therefore, it is ecological since it has no direct Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) and zero direct Global Warming Potential (GWP). Caloric refrigeration embraces four main cooling techniques, each one based on a different caloric effect. These techniques are linked to the group of materials that show a MagnetoCaloric (MCE), ElectroCaloric (ECE), elastoCaloric (eCE) and BaroCaloric (BCE) Effect. This effect is linked to the variation in the temperature of caloric material in adiabatic conditions (DT_ad) or the variation of entropy in isothermal conditions (DS_T) when an applied external field changes.  The external stimulus can be: magnetic field, electric field, uniaxial stress and hydrostatic pressure. Large values of DT_ad and DS_T are found when the material is in the vicinity of a phase transition. The magnitude of all these caloric effects opens up new perspectives for designing solid-state refrigeration devices as alternatives to the presently existing technologies based on vapor compression. Based on Caloric effect, the Active Caloric Regenerator is the core of an active regenerative thermodynamic cycle (AMR, AER, AeR, ABR). The performances of an active refrigerator are mostly influenced by the particular solid materials employed.

The main goal of this Special Issue of Magnetochemistry is to analyze: Magnetocaloric (MM), Electrocaloric (EM), elastocaloric (eM) and Barocaloric (BM) Materials from both theoretical and experimental points of view. Therefore, all the papers focusing on MM, EM, eM and BM characterization, with respect to magnetic, electrical and mechanical properties, are welcomed, together with papers based on the evaluation of the energetic performances of AMR, AER, AeR or ABR plants.

Prof. Dr. Adriana Greco
Guest Editor

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