Researchers have built the first refrigerant-free system to reach sub-zero temperatures, a breakthrough that could reduce food waste and greenhouse gas emissions.

Imaging if this technology could cool a data centre.

Edit: I was not involved in this project. You are wasting your time asking me questions.

  • Kissaki@feddit.orgEnglish
    6·
    6 hours ago

    Published on Nature. 40 € article.

    Here’s the news article from the university.

    This advancement results from a synergistic combination of materials, heat transfer fluid and refrigeration structures.

    Operating at 1Hz, the desktop-scale device achieved a cold-source temperature of -12 ℃ from a room-temperature heat sink (24℃), establishing a temperature lift of 36 ℃. This is the first reported sub-zero Celsius performance in elastocaloric cooling. In a real-world demonstration, the system was integrated into a package measuring 1.0×0.5×0.5m3 and tested outdoors at temperature between 20 and 25℃. It successfully cooled an insulated chamber down to a stable -4℃ air temperature within 60 minutes and froze 20ml of distilled water into ice within 2 hours, validating its real-world freezing capability.