Session: 02-05: International Emphasis Applications

Paper Number: 147794

147794 - The Development Of The First Italian Elastocaloric Device For Air Conditioning 

Abstract: 

Current commercial and residential cooling devices are mainly based on vapor-compression technology. The releases of gas refrigerants used in this mature technology have generated and exacerbated global climate change, e.g., global warming. Solid-state cooling technology based on Caloric Effects (CEs) has the potential to revolutionize vapor-compression refrigeration technology owing to its high energy efficiency and zero-green-house gas emissions. Currently, CEs can be classified as magnetocaloric, electrocaloric, elastocaloric, barocaloric effects depending on the external field's nature and mode of action. Elastocaloric cooling has been considered a promising technology for cooling and heat pumping among the alternative to vapor compression, at room temperature range. The technology is based on elastocaloric effect that is a thermophysical phenomenon occurring in materials like Shape Memory Alloys (SMA). The effect is detectable as a temperature change in the material if adiabatically subjected to a forcing field of mechanical nature. The latter provokes to the materials a stress that can derive from tension, compression, bending, torsion solicitations. As a result, the SMA experiments a structural phase change from austenite to martensite coupled with a temperature increase. Dually when the stress is removed, the SMA inverse transformation occurs (from martensite to austenite) with a temperature decrease. In this paper is illustrated the project whose aim is to develop the experimental prototype SUSSTAIN-EL, the first italian rotary elastocaloric heat pump.  A 2D numerical model based on the finite element has been developed and deeply investigated to built an energy performance map of the device. The acquired results demonstrate that the prototype's energy performances are promising and highly favourable as an alternative to vapour compression.

Presenting Author: Adriana Greco University of Naples

Presenting Author Biography: Born in Naples (Italy) on 7th August 1968. Degree cum laude in Chemical Engineering at University of Naples Federico II on 1994. PhD in Thermo-Mechanical Systems Engineering at the University of Naples Federico II on 1997. Full Professor of Applied Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer at the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Naples Federico II. Coordinator of the research group on refrigeration and heat transfer at UNINA. The group has many International Collaborations (Xi'an Jiaotong University China, Universitat de Barcelona Spain, Saarland University Germany, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya Barcelona, School of Mechanical Engineering Vellore India). Editor in Chief of the Journal of Sustainability for Energy (ed Acadlore); Associate Editor of International Journal of Heat and Technology (ed. IIETA); in the Editorial Board of many international journals. Reviewer for more than 100 international journals. She belongs to many international scientific committees of international conferences. Membership of scientific societies: International Institute of Refrigeration (IIF-IIR), International Elastocaloric Society (IES), AIGE (Italian Association for energy management). Classified in the World’s Top 2% Scientists ranking for the year 2020 and 2022 for both the career and single year. The research activity has been developed in the field of the Termodynamics Applied and the Heat Transfer. She is co-author of more than 140 publications among paper on international and national journals and conference proceedings. She has (basing on Scopus Data-Base on 16/2/2024) and h index of 37 with 2524 citations. The scientific activity is related to following arguments: Energetic and exergetic analysis of vapour compression plants; Refrigerant fluids; Convective condensation; Convective boiling; Solid state refrigeration. Adriana Greco has more than 20 years experience in caloric cooling evidenced by the production of 50 papers in top-level journals on the topic. In 2019 she was the PI (and responsible of the Unit of University of Naples) of the project SUSSTAINEBLE (a Solution Using Solid-STate-cooling: An INvestment Eco-compatiBLE,) financed by Italian Ministry of University for the development of the first Italian heat pump based on the elastocaloric effect.

Authors:

Adriana Greco University of Naples