Electrocaloric cooling with electrostatic actuation

US11397031B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• The Regents of the University of California · US
• SRI International · US

Inventors

• Qibing Pei · Fremont, US
• Rujun Ma · Los Angeles, US
• Ziyang Zhang · Suzhou, CN
• Roy D. Kornbluh · Palo Alto, US
• David Huber · Wollongong, AU

Key dates

• Filing date: May 7, 2018
• Grant date: Jul 26, 2022
• Expiry date: Jul 31, 2038

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y02E60/10
• WIPO field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A solid-state heat transporting device including a heat transporting element whose uniformity of contact with one or multiple surfaces is controllable so that various amounts of heat may be transported to and from the one or multiple surfaces. The heat transporting element uses the electrocaloric effect to absorb and release the heat and the uniformity of contact is controlled using an electrostatic effect which may change the shape of the heat transporting element. In one embodiment, the heat transporting element is an electrostatically actuated P(VDF-TrFE-CFE) polymer stack achieving a high specific cooling power of 2.8 W/g and a COP of 13 (the highest reported coefficient of performance to date) when used as a cooling device.