Successful public-private project is a step towards more efficient refrigeration systems
Researchers from BASF and Delft University of Technology have joined forces over the past four years in a FOM Industrial Partnership Programme in the area of magnetocaloric materials. They succeeded in developing materials with unique properties that make magnetic refrigeration possible. This highly promising technique is expected to deliver energy savings of up to fifty per cent in refrigeration systems.
The FOM Advisory Committee COMOP cited this programme as an example for the Top Sector policy. Programme leader professor Ekkes Brück (Delft University of Technology) will present the results, which are described in the recently published final report, as well as the future plans at the Congress Physics@FOM Veldhoven 2013.
Brück is satisfied: "The close collaboration has resulted in a second generation of magnetocaloric materials. In this we replaced the toxic element arsenic with the widely available, non-toxic element silicon. BASF is now working on a pilot to scale up production of this new material."
The final report of the research can be downloaded from the top right of this page. Professor Brück will present the scientific highlights of the project on Tuesday 22 January during the congress. During his presentation he will also describe his experience of collaborating as an academic researcher with companies.
Further development
The theoretical physics group of professor Rob de Groot at Radboud University Nijmegen contributed by providing an understanding of the fundamental magnetocaloric principles. The calculations demonstrated a new type of magnetism in which strong and weak magnetism coexist in a material. Based on these results the researchers expect that they will be able to develop even better materials still by adjusting the composition. Although the programme has now finished, the successful collaboration is continuing; FOM and BASF have already started a joint follow-up study entitled 'Third generation magnetocaloric materials'. At the same time BASF is also working with its industrial partners on marketing the first magnetocaloric devices, which will contain the materials from the first programme.
Public-private partnership
The research of FOM, BASF and Delft University of Technology took place within a FOM Industrial Partnership Programme (IPP). This funding instrument is for fundamental physics research that FOM staff realise in close collaboration with industrial partners. Companies finance at least fifty per cent of the research costs.
Further information
Prof. Ekkes Brück, Delft University of Technology (NL), +31 (0)15 278 31 58
See also the previously published press releases about the results of this project and the design of the follow-up study.