As the Earth ’s average temperature continue to rise , those of us in already - warm climates may find ourselves more and more tempted to crank up the A / C. But traditionalair conditionersare huge consumer of energy : harmonise to the U.S. Department of Energy , residential air conditioning account for 16 pct of all menage electrical energy use in the United States .
One day in the not - too - aloof time to come , magnetic air conditionersmay aid us keep our house cooler inside without seduce temperatures hotter outside . A traditional melodic line conditioner works by interchange aliquid refrigerantto a gas ( soak up heating plant from the external atmosphere in the unconscious process ) , then compressing and cool the gas to convert it back to a liquidity . Magnetic aura conditioners take an entirely unlike approach to cooling , using attractor instead of compressor and refrigerants to cool the surrounding air .
The Magnetocaloric Effect
Magneticair conditionersare based on a phenomenon known as the magnetocaloric force . magnetized materialsheat up when they are expose to a magnetised field , then chill down when the airfield is removed . The magnetocaloric issue was first honour in branding iron samples by a German physicist name Emil Warburg in 1881 , but the modification in temperature was too little for any hardheaded software . In recent years , however , separate groups of researchers have develop magnetocaloric metal alloy that produce a significantly larger magnetocaloric effect at room temperature .
How will magnetic air conditioners work?
Magneticair conditionerscool the air by quickly and repeatedly exposing a magnetocaloric material to a magnetic field of honor . In one paradigm designed by Astronautics Corporation of America in conjunction with the U.S. DOE ’s Ames ( Iowa ) Laboratory , a wheel turn back the rarified - Earth constituent gadolinium birl through the subject area of a stationarymagnet . As the platter spins , the Gd alloy heats up , then cool as it passes through a interruption in the field , cool down the water that besiege it as it make its misstep .
Environmentally Friendly Technology
In a magnetic melody conditioner , the alloy acts as the " refrigerant , " and plain quondam water allow for the heat transferee , winnow out the need for the decidedly uncongenial hydrochlorofluorocarbons ( HCFC ) used intraditional air conditioner . While the early magnetocaloric alloys were either toxic or prohibitively expensive , the latest magnetocaloric material are cost - efficacious and environmentally safe .
Magnetic air conditioner do call for electrical energy , but the motor that spin the phonograph record containing the magnetocaloric alloy is expected to be much more efficient than the compressor require to run a traditional air conditioner . According to a 2011 clause in Scientific American , Astronautics trust to have a epitome by 2013 that uses just two - thirds as much electrical energy as a conventional air conditioner to provide the same amount of cooling .
Is there a magnetic air conditioner in your future?
In addition to the research worker mention above ( Astronautics and DOE ) , several secret company , university and authorities agencies around the world are exploring magnetized cool down technology for industrial and domestic applications includingair conditioning , infrigidation and mood ascendency .
The National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy at the Technical University of Denmark ladder its own " MagCool " labor , while research at Penn State and other U.S. university has promote the savvy of magnetocaloric principle , helping us read why one stuff might cool more efficiently than another . In 2009 , BASF and Delta Electronics herald a incorporated partnership to develop new magnetocaloric cooling systems and " explore the opportunities of magnetocaloric world power coevals . " But as much as we ’d sleep with to get our hands on this new engineering today , commercial availability of magnetic air conditioners is still at least a few years away , and the first uses will most likely be industrial rather than residential .
