Photo: Anže Malovrh/STA
The 10 most outstanding research achievements of 2022 were announced as part of the University of Ljubljana Week. A contribution from the Process Mechanical Engineering Laboratory of the Laboratory for Refrigeration and District Energy of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering was also selected. The award for the research entitled Development of an energy-efficient and fast-response electro-permanent magnet with magnetic energy regeneration was awarded to Dr. Urban Tomc, Simon Nosan, Dr. Katja Klinar, Dr. Blaž Jelenc, Prof. Alojz Poredoš, PhD, and Prof. Andrej Kitanovski, PhD.
The keynote speech was delivered by Prof. Dr. Matevž Dular, one of the youngest professors at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Ljubljana and a scientific advisor specialising in fluid mechanics, ultrasound, cavitation, and water purification; holder of two prestigious European Research Centre (ERC) projects. “Awards, for most researchers, don’t even have a big meaning – well, yeah, I admit, it is flattering. Nevertheless, events like today’s are of great importance. Society needs winners and loves to talk about them. If today’s event finally makes someone realise the difference between weather and climate, if someone picks up dog poo with a paper bag instead of a plastic one, the world will be a little bit nicer. Great change starts with small actions and with the individual,” he is convinced.
Photo: Anže Malovrh/STA
In the strong competition of high-profile research of other UL members, they were successful due to the publication of their results in the prestigious Journal of Advanced Research (Towards powerful magnetocaloric devices with static electro-permanent magnets) and the international patent granted (Magnetocaloric device).
Summary of research presentation: According to reports from the International Energy Agency (IEA), global demand for refrigeration and air conditioning will triple in the next 30 years, and existing technologies need significant improvements in energy efficiency and the elimination of environmentally harmful refrigerants. Magnetic refrigeration is an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to existing refrigeration technologies, heat pumps and energy production processes.
The main, heaviest, and most expensive part of magnetic refrigeration systems is the magnetic field source, which is analogous to the compressor in vapour compression systems. Previous prototype devices used permanent magnet structures that required movement to achieve a changing magnetic field. Moving parts and the drive system limit the energy efficiency and the rapid change of the magnetic field.
That’s why we have developed a new concept, i.e., a static electro-permanent magnetic field source with no moving parts, a rapidly changing magnetic field, and magnetic energy regeneration. We have demonstrated an energy efficiency of more than 80% for such a magnet, where the magnetic field density can change between 0 T and 1 T more than 50 times per second.
This concept represents a new milestone in the field of magnetic refrigeration, as in addition to the advantages listed above, it allows for high power densities of magnetic refrigeration devices. It is therefore crucial for the future development of compact magnetocaloric devices but is also useful in the field of actuators or linear motors.
Other awards for the most outstanding research achievements went to researchers from the Biotechnical Faculty, School of Economics and Business, Faculty of Architecture, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Faculty of Computer Science and Informatics, Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Medicine, and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.
Our sincere congratulations to everyone!
Photo: Own archive