The employment of caloric-effect materials for solid-state heat pumping

In this paper we draw a map of the energy performances of a solid-state caloric heat pump working with different caloric-effect materials. The investigation is performed considering a number of various caloric effect materials and employing them in a caloric heat pump based on Active Caloric Regenerative heat pumping cycle. The tests were performed through a 2-Dimensional model, already validated in previous investigations, solved with Finite Element Method. The employed materials selected are electrocaloric and mechanocaloric; gadolinium, the benchmark magnetocaloric material, was also tested for comparative purposes. We evaluated the energy performances of the heat pump as temperature span, heating power and coefficient of performance. From global considerations based on the simultaneous evaluation of these three energy parameters, we consider mechanocaloric as the most suitable caloric effect to be employed for heat pump applications, especially with reference to the elastocaloric Ni–Ti and to the barocaloric Acetoxy Silicone Rubber, since their heating powers with respect to the energy expenses required, give satisfying coefficients of performance and temperature spans