Newly discovered material set to change cooling industry

WASHINGTON: Researchers, including one of Indian-origin, have discovered a new material that may make refrigeration and air conditioning more efficient and environment friendly.

Researchers led by Louisiana State University Physics Professor Shane Stadler said the magnetocaloric material may change the energy industry, including air conditioning and food refrigeration.

"The world refrigeration market is expected to increase by about USD 7-8 billion by 2018," Stadler said.

Therefore, the breakthrough has a significant economic impact as well as an impact on the energy industry and environment.

Stadler's research team, including postdoctoral researcher Tapas Samanta, focused on the next generation of magnetic cooling technologies, which are simpler in design, quieter and more environmentally friendly than conventional compressed-gas systems currently used.

In the new technology, a magnetic field magnetically orders the material at ambient temperature, which raises its temperature above ambient.

The excess heat is removed through a thermal medium, such as water or air, bringing the material back to ambient temperature.

The magnetic field is then removed, the material becomes magnetically disordered and its temperature drops below ambient temperature leading to a cooling effect.

This "solid state" cooling process is significantly more energy efficient than the conventional, compressed gas systems currently on the market today.

"We've studied these systems for a long time and were fortunate to discover a system in which a magnetic transition coincided in temperature with a structural transition," Stadler said.

"That this magnetostructural transition occurs near room temperature is what makes it a strong candidate for magnetocaloric cooling devices of the future," he said.

Stadler's team's technological discovery is a promising alternative for refrigeration and air conditioning that can reduce the use of harmful gas fluorocarbons.