Our Technology

Thermoelastic cooling is a novel solid-state cooling technology. It is based on the latent heat associated with the reversible martensitic phase transformation. The latent heat in martensites has been studied and utilized for several decades. But most of the applications have been in actuation or heat engine. Little attention has been paid to the potential of using the thermoelastic effect for cooling or refrigeration.  Literature on thermoelastic cooling is rare and scarce.
At MEST, we are actively developing applications of thermoelastic cooling as a novel green technology. Unlike the currently most widely used vapor-compression (VC) based cooling technology, thermoelastic cooling is environmentally friendly and has the potential to achieve high efficiency at a lower cost.

Key facts about thermoelastic cooling:

• The solid thermoelastic refrigerant is highly efficient. Experiment shows that the refrigerant COP (coefficient of performance) is as high as 11.8, which is double that of most widely used VC systems.
• Thermoelastic cooling technology is environmentally friendly. It completely eliminates the use of materials with ozone depletion potential (ODP) and global warming potential (GWP).
• Thermoelastic cooling technology is cost effective. It does not contain any expensive noble-metal or rare-earth elements, and its manufacturability is high.

Our goal is to explore, develop, and extend the applications of the thermoelastic cooling technology for commercial use across various industries, through patent filing and product development.

Key Publication
Jun Cui, Yiming Wu, Jan Muehlbauer, Yunho Hwang, Reinhard Radermacher, Manfred Wuttig, Ichiro Takeuchi, Demonstration of high efficiency elastocaloric cooling with large DT using NiTi wires., Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 073904 (2012).