An elastocaloric air cooler with low-force bending actuation

Elastocaloric cooling has emerged as a promising alternative to traditional vapor-compression refrigeration due to low environmental impact and large entropy change. However, the commercialization of this cooling technology nowadays is impeded by large actuating force and complicated heat exchange structure. Here, we demonstrate a bending approach to actuate the NiTi sheet in a lower force level than other elastocaloric devices using compressive or tensile loading mode, meanwhile build an elastocaloric air cooler with reduced volume and simplified fluid channels. The operations of system achieve a continuous output air flow with a temperature drop of more than 5 K from room temperature, and further analysis indicates an optimization of factors to obtain a better cooling performance in temperature span and cooling power. These results reveal a great potential to realize the miniaturized elastocaloric cooling products and be extended to other types of caloric application.