Issue 4/2015 - Haier, ACA and BASF jointly launch cutting-edge technologies for energy-efficient refrigeration appliances

Haier, ACA and BASF jointly launched cutting-edge technology
for energy-saving refrigeration home appliances Recently, leading brands of large home appliances, Haier, American Aerospace (ACA) and BASF (BASF
) demonstrated the proof-of-concept model
of magnetic heat pump refrigerated red wine chiller at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas.

The magnetic heat pump is a cooling device based on magnetocaloric materials that is a perfect alternative to traditional compression refrigeration technology
.
Inside the magnetic heat pump device, the magnetocaloric material continuously moves in and out of the magnetic field, so that the water-based refrigerant is constantly shuttled through the magnetocaloric material, so that the heat is transferred from the low temperature inside the wine cooler to the outside surrounding air
.

A key part of the plant is a series of manganese and iron functional materials
jointly developed by BASF and Delft University of Technology (Delft) in the Netherlands.
ACA used BASF's magnetocaloric materials to their magnetothermal machine and worked with Haier to integrate the magnetothermal engine into a
prototype wine chiller.
Theoretical studies have proved that refrigeration systems based on magnetic heating effect can save up to 35%
energy than vapor compression refrigeration systems.
In addition, the magnetothermal refrigeration system reduces operating noise due to the removal of compressors
.
（Vanessa）