High Efficiency Magnetic Refrigeration for Industrial Cryogenic Applications

Magnetic refrigeration will dramatically reduce energy use of the high tech electronics industry

General Engineering & Research, L.L.C.

Recipient

San Diego, CA

Recipient Location

40th

Senate District

78th

Assembly District

beenhere

$1,623,809

Amount Spent

closed

Completed

Project Status

Project Result

In 2023, General Engineering and Research (GE&R) successfully built a full size cryogenic magnetic refrigeration prototype and demonstrated sustained magnetocaloric cooling below 80 degrees Kelvin. The system uses an economical permanent magnet with ZERO energy input requirements. The demonstration of this technology has opened the door for its use in small- and medium-scale high tech industrial applications, as well as fueling station infrastructure for fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV).

The Issue

Cryogenic refrigeration consumes an enormous amount of electricity and it is being increasingly utilized in the high-tech manufacturing industry. While efforts have been made to improve efficiencies of compression-based systems, the lack of existing refrigerants at cryogenic temperatures make significant improvements to these systems impossible.

Project Innovation

The Recipient will develop a new magnetic refrigeration technology that will improve efficiency in the cryogenic temperature regime up to 10X compared to the baseline compression-based technology. By replacing compression-based refrigeration with magnetic refrigeration technology both the operating and capital costs of cryogenic cooling can be reduced.

Project Goals

Build partial system that demonstrates magnetocaloric cooling at cryogenic temperatures (sub 120K).
Build a theoretical system model and validate the model by demonstrating model predictions of performance are consistent
Use validated model to design an at-scale full system with sustained cooling capabilities below 80K.
Build full system and demonstrate sustained magnetocaloric cooling below 80K.

Project Benefits

The technology is anticipated to enable high efficiency cryogenic magnetic refrigeration systems to replace energy intensive compression-based systems in California's industrial sector. The largest application for cryogenic refrigeration is in the high-tech manufacturing industry, which is also the largest and fasting growing industrial market segment in California. With a magnetic refrigeration system with 50% efficiency operating in the 10-80K region, the average daily electricity consumption for the standard cryogenic refrigeration units reduces from an estimated 406 kWh to 44 kWh. With successful deployment of these systems the annual energy savings by 2040 in California are estimated to be 2,500 GWh, with $270M of savings in electricity costs, and approximately 7 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions avoided.

Lower Costs

Affordability

The Recipient will develop a new magnetic refrigeration technology that will improve efficiency in the cryogenic temperature regime up to 10X compared to the baseline compression-based technology.

Key Project Members

Robin Ihnfeldt

Robin Ihnfeldt

President
General Engineering & Research, L.L.C.

Subrecipients

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The Regents of the University of California, on behalf of the San Diego campus

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Knobbe Martens Olsen & Bear

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Professor Sungho Jin

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Match Partners

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U.S. Department of Energy

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General Engineering &amp

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Research, L.L.C.

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