University researchers have received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to study a type of metal that could boost energy- and space-efficiency in refrigerators and air conditioning units.
Materials science professors Ichiro Takeuchi and Manfred Wuttig, who conceptualized a new cooling method utilizing the metal, will lead the research into practical real-world applications on this campus, material science and engineering department chair Robert Briber said. Researchers in other parts of the country will also assist.
The university’s research will focus on the cooling of the thermoelastic shape memory alloy, in which deforming metal reduces ambient temperature, according to Briber.
“Refrigeration is a ubiquitous technology fundamental to every aspect of human life,” Takeuchi wrote in an e-mail, and current refrigerants “are all harmful to the environment and cause global warming.”
By using the thermoelastic shape memory alloy — which materials science professors at this university first discovered — manufacturers could replace water-based cooling systems, potentially reducing electricity consumption and taking up less space, Briber said.
“If the project is successful, we will be able to reduce the electricity bill by a large amount. We can also use it to reduce emission of all the environmentally harmful refrigerants,” Takeuchi wrote.
The researchers know that the metal has the potential to cool small areas but they will be building a prototype cooling unit to test whether or not it is more efficient than the current method. They hope to make their initial demonstration of the product in one-and-a-half to two years, Takeuchi said.
This project will allow the scientists to “bridge from fundamental research into the actual prototype,” Briber said.
Lead researcher Takeuchi’s research interests include temperature scanning microscopes and smart materials, shape memory materials that exert mechanical stimulus when added to electronic circuits. Wuttig is also an expert on smart materials, but was traveling and unavailable for comment at press time.
The university’s project is one of 43 recipients of grant money from the DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy program, out of more than 500 initial concepts submitted and 164 full grant applications, according to DOE spokesman Jeff Sherwood.
“It’s good to be recognized by DOE,” Takeuchi wrote. “Our idea is entirely new, and it is good that they recognized the value in our new idea.”
The university’s discovery of the new metallic alloy, “is a breakthrough in a sense that they’re proposing a system that is better than one that anyone has had before,” said Briber.
This separated it from the dozens of concepts that were not funded after a review by a panel of experts at DOE.
Grants were awarded July 12 based on “scientific and technical merit and the potential to dramatically advance national energy and economic goals,” according to a press release.
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