REGENERATIVE ELECTROCALORIC COOLING DEVICE
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A regenerative electrocaloric (EC) cooling device comprising:
- a first EC ring having N spaced apart first ring high electric field regions (HEFRs) and N spaced apart first ring low electric field regions (LEFRs);
a second EC ring having N spaced apart second ring HEFRs and N spaced apart second ring LEFRs, N being equal to or greater than 1;
said first EC ring rotating in an opposite direction to said second EC ring and in sliding contact therewith, said N first ring HEFRs, N first ring LEFRs, N second ring HEFRs and N second ring LEFRs fixed in space during rotation of said first EC ring and said second EC ring;
at least one hot end located between a first ring HEFR and a first ring LEFR;
at least one cold end located between a second ring HEFR and a second ring LEFR;
an electrical power supply in communication with said first and second EC rings and producing an electric field thereacross, said electric field across said first and second EC rings reducing an entropy and increasing a temperature thereof such that said first EC ring is at a higher temperature than said second EC ring and vice versa; and
a fixed ring in thermal contact with at least one of said first EC ring and said second EC ring, said fixed ring having N hot ends at a temperature of Th and N cold ends at a temperature of Tc, said fixed ring also having 2N spaced apart regions of heat exchange at said N hot ends and said N cold ends;
each of said heat exchange regions made from a high thermal conductivity material with a thermal conductivity >
50 W/mK and separated from adjacent heat exchange regions by regions of a low thermal conductivity material with a thermal conductivity <
0.3 W/mK;
said heat exchange regions at said N cold ends absorbing heat from an outside source of heat and said heat exchange regions at said N hot ends transferring heat to a heat sink such that heat is pumped from the outside heat source at Tc to the heat sink at Th.
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Abstract
A regenerative electrocaloric (EC) device is provided. The regenerative EC device uses a special configuration to expand the temperature span Th-Tc, thereby increasing the cooling power and improving the efficiency thereof. The EC regenerative cooling device includes two electrocaloric effect (ECE) elements/rings in direct thermal contact with each other. The two rings rotate in opposite directions and are divided into multiple sections with an electric field or electric fields applied to every other region/section and an electric field or electric fields removed from remaining sections.
62 Citations
14 Claims
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1. A regenerative electrocaloric (EC) cooling device comprising:
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a first EC ring having N spaced apart first ring high electric field regions (HEFRs) and N spaced apart first ring low electric field regions (LEFRs); a second EC ring having N spaced apart second ring HEFRs and N spaced apart second ring LEFRs, N being equal to or greater than 1; said first EC ring rotating in an opposite direction to said second EC ring and in sliding contact therewith, said N first ring HEFRs, N first ring LEFRs, N second ring HEFRs and N second ring LEFRs fixed in space during rotation of said first EC ring and said second EC ring; at least one hot end located between a first ring HEFR and a first ring LEFR; at least one cold end located between a second ring HEFR and a second ring LEFR; an electrical power supply in communication with said first and second EC rings and producing an electric field thereacross, said electric field across said first and second EC rings reducing an entropy and increasing a temperature thereof such that said first EC ring is at a higher temperature than said second EC ring and vice versa; and a fixed ring in thermal contact with at least one of said first EC ring and said second EC ring, said fixed ring having N hot ends at a temperature of Th and N cold ends at a temperature of Tc, said fixed ring also having 2N spaced apart regions of heat exchange at said N hot ends and said N cold ends; each of said heat exchange regions made from a high thermal conductivity material with a thermal conductivity >
50 W/mK and separated from adjacent heat exchange regions by regions of a low thermal conductivity material with a thermal conductivity <
0.3 W/mK;said heat exchange regions at said N cold ends absorbing heat from an outside source of heat and said heat exchange regions at said N hot ends transferring heat to a heat sink such that heat is pumped from the outside heat source at Tc to the heat sink at Th. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14)
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10. The regenerative devices of 7, wherein each of said plurality of first ring segments and each of said plurality of second ring segments is covered by a single electrode, said electrical power supply applying an electric field of magnitude |EH−
- EL| across each ring segment via said single electrode.
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11. The regenerative device of 7, wherein each of said plurality of first ring segments and each of said plurality of second ring segments is covered by a M electrodes, said electrical power supply applying an electric field of magnitude |EH−
- EL| at increments of |EH−
EL|/M across each ring segment via said M electrodes.
- EL| at increments of |EH−
Specification