dr.ir. K. Rajamani (Keerthivasan)

My current work focuses on utilizing magnetic nanofluids to obtain room temperature refrigeration (using magnetocaloric effect).

But why work in this when there is already the market dominant technology - Vapor Compression Refrigeration System (VCRS) ?

Well, as with any human creation, things can always be improved. It turns out that the technology development cycle of VCRS has already reached a matured state, no wonder given the enormous amount of scientific and engineering thinking that has been invested in them to keep the humanity cool (though at the cost of warming the environment, a bit) ! In the past century, VCRS has seen many milestones such as: maybe possible --> somewhat possible --> indeed possible --> economically viable --> creating and dominating  "refrigeration" market worldwide. It has grown from a laboratory idea to a level where VCRS has an undeniable influence on the economy of  many countries. During all these good times, the performance of VCRS was not kept idle. Iit was continuously improved upon, and the recent versions of them can achieve ~ 45 % of Carnot Efficiency.

But the wisdom of humanity says, "all good things must come to an end"; this time it is for VCRS and it is due to (hopefully) presence of  more energy efficient ways to keep the humanity cool. One of the "energy efficient ways" is Magnetic Refrigeration (MR). However, in front of VCRS - a civilized 800 pound Gorilla, MR is like a tiny bunny (whom am I to say this ? It is just my perspective :) ). But there are strong indicators that this tiny bunny cannot be ignored any more [1,2].

So where does my work fit in (or at least that I hope to fit into) ?

In the existing MR, the magnetic refrigerant is present as a solid porous structure through which a heat transfer liquid passes through. Due to this arrangement there is a limitation in the heat transfer efficiency. The present work focuses to build a system by using magnetic nanofluids (where the particles are in their super-paramagnetic state ) and to drive it with thermo-magnetic convection thereby avoiding using any mechanical pumps in the system. If this imagination could be engineered, it would result in a maintenance-free, compact, and energy efficient refrigeration system.

But who is going to buy it if it is not affordable ? Well, that has to be accounted for as well when it is engineered.

Does the above idea seems interesting to you and you would like to discuss further, or do you want to check regarding research collaboration ? Feel free to contact me at k.rajamani@utwente.nl

Reference:

1. https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200305/refrigerators.cfm

2. http://www.cooltech-applications.com/

Publications

M. Sc. Mechanical Engineering - Energy Technology, Technical University of Delft, The Netherlands.

B. E. Mechanical Engineering (Sandwich), PSG College of Technology, Anna University, India.

• 202200266 - Hydrogen Technology

Organisations

• Faculty of Engineering Technology (ET), Thermal Engineering (TE)