The magnetocaloric effect is a phenomenon in which a magnetic substance can generate heat in a magnetic field and then cool off after leaving. This principle can be used as an air-conditioner without a refrigerant (Figure/Wikipedia)
Summer is getting hotter and hotter, and air-conditioning is becoming more and more important. However, nowadays air-conditioners need compressors to circulate the refrigerant, and the heat energy is taken away by the refrigerant. Therefore, the air-conditioning consumes a lot of power, and the refrigerant is not good for the environment. The future of air-conditioning and refrigerators may be based on the principle of "magnetic refrigeration". At present, there are two kinds of suitable magnetic materials available.
Next big future reports that “magnetothermal effect” means that the magnetized material will rise in temperature in the magnetic field, but once it leaves the magnetic field, the temperature will decrease. This is German physics. Emil Warburg (Emil Warburg) discovered in the pure iron experiment in 1881 that since then many people have studied related fields and succeeded in creating extremely low temperatures. However, air conditioners that have not been used in On the refrigerator, because of its large size, and the magnetized material is also expensive.
The Energy Efficiency Office led by the US Department of Energy, the CaloriCool materials experiment team, found two kinds of magnetized materials that were easy to make, and the effect was 50% higher than that of past magnetization refrigeration. They believe that these two kinds New cooling magnetized materials can create more energy-saving than current gas compression systems.
One member of the team, Professor Vitalij Pecharsky of Idaho State University in the United States, said: “The magneto-caloric effect has long been known in the scientific community, but magnetized materials are expensive and have been applied to household appliances, air-conditioning systems. The important obstacles that we now discover. Both of these materials are composed of ordinary elements. This means that once you enter large-scale production, manufacturing costs will be quite cheap."
The research team believes that home-use air conditioners and refrigerators, which are dominated by magnetocaloric effects, will come out in 10 years. Professor Becharski said: "The magnetocaloric refrigerator will suddenly become popular all over the world just like LEDs quickly replace light bulbs."