TY - JOUR
T1 - Modelling of elastocaloric regenerators with enhanced heat transfer structures
AU - Zhu, Yuxiang
AU - Hur, Jun
AU - Cheng, Siyuan
AU - Sun, Qingping
AU - Li, Weihong
AU - Yao, Shuhuai
PY - 2021/9
Y1 - 2021/9
N2 - The elastocaloric refrigeration utilizing Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs) has been actively pursued as an alternative cooling technology to the traditional vapor compression. Many research efforts have been focusing on the thermomechanical cycles, material properties, and fatigue life of the SMAs. However, less effort has been made to achieve optimal heat transfer performance of the entire system. In this work, for the first time, we introduce a porous regenerative heat exchanger to a tube-based compression-loaded elastocaloric cooling device for enhanced cooling performance without compromising its fatigue life. A convective regenerator made of a porous structure is proposed for better thermal coupling between the nickel-titanium (Ni-Ti) tube and the heat transfer fluids. A quasi-1D numerical model has been developed to predict the elastocaloric cooling performance and optimize the heat transfer structures. We demonstrate, at specific operating conditions, the optimized elastocaloric regenerator design can improve the Specific Cooling Power (SCP) and Coefficient of Performance (COP) by 50% and 45%, respectively, as compared to a bare tube design. The numerical framework developed in this work offers a systematic investigation of complex regenerative heat exchanger systems and a detailed understanding of the design parameters that are vital for prototype development.
AB - The elastocaloric refrigeration utilizing Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs) has been actively pursued as an alternative cooling technology to the traditional vapor compression. Many research efforts have been focusing on the thermomechanical cycles, material properties, and fatigue life of the SMAs. However, less effort has been made to achieve optimal heat transfer performance of the entire system. In this work, for the first time, we introduce a porous regenerative heat exchanger to a tube-based compression-loaded elastocaloric cooling device for enhanced cooling performance without compromising its fatigue life. A convective regenerator made of a porous structure is proposed for better thermal coupling between the nickel-titanium (Ni-Ti) tube and the heat transfer fluids. A quasi-1D numerical model has been developed to predict the elastocaloric cooling performance and optimize the heat transfer structures. We demonstrate, at specific operating conditions, the optimized elastocaloric regenerator design can improve the Specific Cooling Power (SCP) and Coefficient of Performance (COP) by 50% and 45%, respectively, as compared to a bare tube design. The numerical framework developed in this work offers a systematic investigation of complex regenerative heat exchanger systems and a detailed understanding of the design parameters that are vital for prototype development.
KW - Elastocaloric cooling
KW - Optimization
KW - Porous structure
KW - Regenerative heat exchanger
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105792864&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/pubmetrics.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85105792864&origin=recordpage
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2021.121372
DO - 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2021.121372
M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal
SN - 0017-9310
VL - 176
JO - International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer
JF - International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer
M1 - 121372
ER -