| Issue |
EPL
Volume 111, Number 5, September 2015
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 57009 | |
| Number of page(s) | 6 | |
| Section | Condensed Matter: Electronic Structure, Electrical, Magnetic and Optical Properties | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/111/57009 | |
| Published online | 29 September 2015 | |
Electrocaloric cooling: The importance of electric-energy recovery and heat regeneration
1 University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering - Aškerčeva 6, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
2 Jožef Stefan Institute - Jamova cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
3 Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School - Jamova cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
(b) andrej.kitanovski@fs.uni-lj.si
Received: 16 July 2015
Accepted: 3 September 2015
Here we explore the effect of electric-energy recovery and heat regeneration on the energy efficiency of an electrocaloric-cooling system. Furthermore, the influence of the polarization-electric field hysteresis on the energy efficiency of the system is analysed. For the purposes of the analysis, the properties of (1 – x)Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-xPbTiO3 (PMN-100xPT) with x = 0, 
, and 
are characterized. We show that if no heat is regenerated, even small irreversibilities in the electric circuit used to recover the electric energy can cause a significant drop in the achievable energy efficiency. On the other hand, when a heat regeneration process is considered and a realistic value for the degree of electric-energy recovery equal to 80% is assumed, the limit for the energy efficiency of a system employing PMN ceramics is estimated to be equal to 81% of the efficiency of a Carnot heat pump.
PACS: 77.70.+a – Pyroelectric and electrocaloric effects / 88.05.-b – Energy analysis
© EPLA, 2015
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