Imagine a cooler that doesn't use any harmful gases or liquids, but instead uses special metals that change temperature when stretched. It works like a sponge for heat, squeezing it out of the air using mechanical force. This means no more leaking refrigerants and a much smaller electricity bill.
Current HVAC systems rely on harmful fluid refrigerants that contribute to global warming and suffer from energy inefficiency in residential buildings.
A functional elastocaloric air-conditioning device, a multi-physical numerical simulation platform, and a specialized electric drive unit.
If you are an AC manufacturer dealing with strict environmental regulations on refrigerant gases — this project developed a solid-state cooling system that uses metals instead of fluids. This allows you to offer products with zero global warming potential and a potential efficiency increase by a factor of two to three.
If you are a developer dealing with high energy costs in residential projects — this project developed an elastocaloric cooling device that targets a 2 to 3 times efficiency increase over current HVAC systems. This significantly cuts down global energy consumption in the residential building sector.
If you are a component supplier dealing with the need for specialized actuators for new cooling tech — this project developed an efficient electric drive unit specifically suited for elastocaloric system devices. This creates a new market for high-precision drive units in the cooling sector.
Based on available project data, specific cost or pricing information is not provided; the focus is on energy efficiency and material replacement.
The project aims to develop a functional device for residential buildings and a validation environment for future devices, suggesting a path toward industrial scaling.
Based on available project data, the consortium includes one high-tech company from Ireland and three universities, but specific licensing terms are not listed.
The project targets the residential building sector, aiming to replace or improve upon state-of-the-art HVAC systems through a new device architecture.
The project period runs from 2024-10-01 to 2027-09-30, indicating the development phase concludes in late 2027.
The consortium is research-heavy with a 75% university presence (3 out of 4 partners), indicating a strong focus on fundamental material science and simulation. However, the inclusion of one high-tech SME from Ireland provides a critical bridge to commercialization and industrial application of the electric drive units.
Contact Universitat des Saarlandes regarding the SMACool project coordination.
Contact SciTransfer to connect with the SMACool consortium for licensing opportunities.
