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
$1,623,809
Amount Spent
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
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.

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
Subrecipients

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

Knobbe Martens Olsen & Bear

Professor Sungho Jin

Match Partners

U.S. Department of Energy

General Engineering &

Research, L.L.C.
