UK lab tech promises air-con revolution without polluting gases
The substance's temperature can vary by more than 50 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) under pressure, and unlike the gases currently used in appliances' solid refrigerants, it does not leak.
"They don't contribute to global warming, but also they are potentially more energy efficient," Xavier Moya, a professor of materials physics at the University of Cambridge, told AFP.
Approximately two billion air-conditioner units are in use worldwide, and their number is increasing as the planet warms.
Between leaks and energy consumption, the emissions associated with them are also increasing each year, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Moya has been studying the properties of these plastic crystals in his laboratory at the prestigious UK university for 15 years.
On his work surface, a large red and grey machine, topped with a cylinder, tests how the temperature of a substance changes under pressure.
The aim is to identify the best refrigerants among this class of materials, which are already used by the chemical industry and are relatively easy to obtain, even if the exact composition of the crystals eventually selected remains a secret.
The phenomenon is invisible to the naked eye, but these crystals are composed of molecules that spin on their own axis. When the substance is squeezed, that movement stops and the energy is dissipated in the form of heat.
When released, the substance cools its surroundings in what is known as the "barocaloric effect".
"We're expecting demand for air conditioning to increase hugely, globally, between now and 2050," Cliff Elwell, a professor of building physics at University College London, told AFP.
He believes barocaloric solids have the potential to be as efficient as gas, if not more so.
"But whatever we introduce as new technologies always has to have the basic requirements," which include being compact and quiet enough for use in homes and cars, he said.
The first air-conditioner prototype is the size of a large suitcase and hums quite loudly when a hydraulic circuit increases or decreases the pressure inside the four crystal-filled cylinders. But it works.
The prototype has "not really been optimised yet for either mass, volume, or even sound," acknowledged Mohsen Elabbadi, a materials engineer at Barocal.
But the performance of the units they are working to perfect will eventually be comparable with those running on gas, he promised. Barocal hopes to launch a first product on the market within three years. — AFP
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