INSA LYON

How to freeze with rubber material?

The cooling applications belong to our daily life for the perishable food conservation, drug conservation (vaccine), for the reliability of the electronic devices as well as for the welfare of people.

 

The most popular technique for cooling down is the cyclical compression and expansion of a gaz.  Based on this principle, the widely used machines present several drawbacks: a limited potential for integration, complicated in embedded systems and environmental impact when using harmful volatile materials. Consequently, efforts have been put on the development of alternative technologies in the domain of the solid-state physic. The aim of the ECPOR project is to contribute to this topic by evaluating the efficiency of the elastocaloric effect within polymers for refrigeration applications. A multidisciplinary approach, combining experiences and modeling will be used to better understand the mechanisms which are at the origin of the elastocaloric effect in order to enhance it, to accurately characterize the heat transfer between the polymer surface and its surrounding and to build some laboratory prototypes of thermal machines to gain in experiences on this novel technique.

Visual: 
Laboratoires: 
Dates - Duration: 
02/2018 to 02/2021
Funding Institution: 
Contact: 
laurent.lebrun@insa-lyon.fr
Project Leader: 
INSA LYON - LGEF
INSA’s scientific leader: 
Laurent LEBRUN
Subtitle: 
ECPOR : Elastocaloric Coupling in Polymers for Solid State Refrigeration
Funding: 
458000' €'