Advanced cooling using an Electrochemical Heat Pipe (EHP)

Refrigeration and air conditioning in buildings, industry, and transportation account for approximately 10 quads of U.S. primary energy consumption. In addition, current mass marketed air conditioning and refrigeration cycles utilize environmentally harmful refrigerants that are strong green house gases. This subtopic seeks innovative approaches to achieve high efficiencies and net-zero direct GHG emissions in cooling applications.Johnson Research & Development Co., Inc. (JRD) proposes the development of the Electrochemical Heat Pump (EHP) as a novel advanced cooling system. The Electrochemical Heat Pump (EHP) is a transformational technology that: 1) is a high reliability, long life time solid state device, 2) operates on a modified Rankine cycle to provide higher COP than current solid state technologies, and 3) works on well known principles of heat pipes, fuel cell membranes, and binary fluid gas cycles. The Phase I effort will investigate the overall device analytically and perform preliminary materials testing, while in Phase II a prototype system will be constructed and tested.Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: The EHP will have a profound impact on thermal management for a wide range of applications. It is scaleable to provide thermal control of small electronic systems to large industrial HVAC systems. Additionally, the EHP is versatile and can operate in reverse as a power generation system utilizing any thermal source. Based on this versatility, multiple entry points exist along the commercialization path to enter the market place (with both small and intermediate scale devices along with tangential applications).