Development of a crankshaft driven single long NiTi tube compressive elastocaloric cooler

AbstractElastocaloric cooling has no environmental effects during operation, and achieving a compact structure especially the driver is significant for its commercialization. In this article, a compact, standalone crankshaft driven single long NiTi tube compressive elastocaloric cooler is developed. A crankshaft driver was designed and fabricated to drive a compressive elastocaloric regenerator utilizing a single long polycrystalline superelastic NiTi shape memory alloy tube (outer diameter 5 mm, wall thickness 1 mm, and initial length 305 mm). A novel design of ceramic heat insulation plate was applied to the cooler to reduce the conduction heat loss from the NiTi tube to the stainless-steel loading heads. The cooling performance of the cooler was characterized using synchronized thermocouples and infrared thermography, and the specific cooling(heating) power, temperature span, and coefficient of performance of up to 65(125) W·kg−1, 9.1 K, and 5.0, respectively were measured. The progressions of the temperature span, specific cooling(heating) power, and coefficient of performance with the operation cycle and temperature lift were analyzed. An energy analysis revealed that the heat transfer fluid carried out only 14% of the latent heat generated by the NiTi tube, which demonstrated a potential to enhance the cooling performance by the improvement in the regenerator structure. AcknowledgementsWe thank Mr. Yuchen Zhang, Mr. Jiachen Lei, Mr. Junxian Ye, and Mr. William Chi Chung Wong in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology for the beneficial discussions and construction of the crankshaft driver in the single long NiTi tube compressive elastocaloric cooler.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52206224), the Natural Science Research Start-up Foundation of Recruiting Talents of Hebei University of Science and Technology, the Chinese National Training Program of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Undergraduates (Grant No. 202310082008), and the IER Foundation 2020 (Grant No. IERF202003).Notes on contributorsSiyuan ChengSiyuan Cheng, PhD, is an Assistant Professor. Zhengyu Li, BS, is a PhD Candidate. Weng Zak Lee, is an Undergraduate Student. Shuoyang Liu, is an Undergraduate Student. Yang Fu, is an Undergraduate Student. Yatao Zhao, is an Undergraduate Student. Mengyi Zhang, is an Undergraduate Student.