After five years of research, scientists from the University of California at Los Angeles reached a breakthrough in the development of technologies of film cooling systems. The order came from ARPA-E, the work was carried out in the interests of the US Ministry of Energy. The main goal is to get a new way of cooling numerous types of electronic devices, from office to wearable.
The principle of the use of electrocaloriferous films is based on their ability to change their temperature when supplying voltage. The film acts as a coolant and moves in a circle between a preheated part and a radiator of heat discharge. The ability to control the film temperature using external signals makes the heat transfer process very effective, and most importantly – safe and not energy -consuming.
Alas, a single film drive can provide cooling by only 2.7 degrees Celsius, but this is the limit of the possibilities of these films. The solution to the problem was proposed by Dr. Yuan Menn, who united two films into one block, placing them in antiphase. Such blocks are collected in a cascade to re -use capacitive charges and reduce energy costs. Each new layer in a cascade increases the potential of cooling – the system is easily scale for different purposes.
The solution turned out to be very successful, only 4 layers of blocks in the cascade ensured the cooling of an experimental object by 8.8 degrees. And since we are talking about thin films, the thickness of the entire assembly did not exceed 1 cm. That is, such a miniature cooler can be inserted, for example, into the pocket of the backpack in which the tablet is transferred. In the future, scientists promise to make cascading coolers in addition to flexible and silent.
Source — Nature Energy