Scientists Just Invented an Entirely New Way to Refrigerate Things
The landscape of refrigerants is an unsolved problem," says mechanical engineer Drew Lilley, from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. "No one has successfully developed an alternative solution that makes stuff cold, works efficiently, is safe, and doesn't hurt the environment."
"We think the ionocaloric cycle has the potential to meet all those goals if realized appropriately."
The researchers modeled the theory of the ionocaloric cycle to show how it could potentially compete with, or even improve upon, the efficiency of refrigerants in use today. A current running through the system would move the ions in it, shifting the material's melting point to change temperature.
https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-just-invented-an-entirely-new-way-to-refrigerate-things
Slightly geeky article about using less electricity to move ions around rather than using more electricity to change a liquid into a vapor and pump it around condenser coils.
= new reply since forum marked as read
