Advanced Barocaloric Systems for Sustainable Commercial Cooling Applications

Projektinformationen

BAROCAL

ID Finanzhilfevereinbarung: 101218476

DOI

10.3030/101218476

EK-Unterschriftsdatum 4 Juni 2025

Startdatum 1 Juli 2025

Enddatum 30 Juni 2027

Finanziert unter

• The European Innovation Council (EIC)

Gesamtkosten

Keine Daten

EU-Beitrag

€ 2 447 375,00

Koordiniert durch

Barocal Ltd
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BAROCAL (Advanced Barocaloric Systems for Sustainable Commercial Cooling Applications)

Berichtszeitraum: 2025-07-01 bis 2026-06-30

Zusammenfassung vom Kontext und den Gesamtzielen des Projekts

Founded in 2019 in Cambridge (UK), Barocal is revolutionizing the heating and cooling industry with cutting-edge technology based on solid barocaloric materials. This innovative approach offers a low-emission alternative to traditional vapor-compression methods by utilizing barocaloric materials and applying pressure to change temperature.
Barocal aims to lead the market in eco-friendly heating and cooling technologies, leveraging its scientific leadership.

Committed to developing ultra-high energy efficiency, low-emission systems, Barocal’s solutions benefit customers, the industry, and the planet. The company’s solid refrigerants are safe, have zero global warming potential, and aim to reduce CO2 emissions by 75% compared to the market standard by 2026, achieving 2-3 times higher energy efficiencies.

Barocal’s R&D efforts have resulted in a prototype with a high Coefficient of Performance (COP), comparable to traditional vapor compression units. Currently, the company is developing technology, targeting a temperature range of 40 degrees, and a cooling power of 1000 Watts. The prototype aims to transition commercial air-conditioning units into more efficient and cost-saving systems, featuring a modular design for wider applicability and installation. Barocal's journey involves engineering and material science challenges, with application focus tailored through collaborations with OEM partnerships. The commercial ambitions include demonstration projects to test the units in real-life scenarios, providing crucial customer data on return on investment, and de-risking planned scale-up.

Arbeit, die ab Beginn des Projekts bis zum Ende des durch den Bericht erfassten Berichtszeitraums geleistet wurde, und die wichtigsten bis dahin erzielten Ergebnisse

Barocal moved into our own premises in September 2025, which were empty labs requiring to be fully kitted and are now fully fitted and operational. Using the enhanced funding, we expanded our headcount to 20, in line with the growth plans described in the Description of Action. The team has developed several new low-cost high performing barocaloric materials, developed several advanced methodologies that permit full characterisation of barocaloric materials, and designed, built and tested key engineering components that underpin high-system performance and low-cost of manufacturing.

Fortschritte, die über den aktuellen Stand der Technik hinausgehen und voraussichtliche potenzielle Auswirkungen (einschließlich der bis dato erzielten sozioökonomischen Auswirkungen und weiter gefassten gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen des Projekts)

We developed a new technology that permits applying high pressures to ultra thin-wall pressure vessels that are based on composite materials. By switching from thick-wall pressure vessels that are based on structural steel, we have achieved highly flexible and modular heat exchangers with small values of thermal resistance that permit cooling powers in the kilowatt regime and above.

We achieved rapid pressurisation and depressurisation of our barocaloric refrigerants by assembling a new hydraulic system. Using this system in combination with our ultra-thin-wall pressure vessels and our new barocaloric refrigerants we demonstrated temperature differences of 60 K when applying and removing our standard operating pressure.

We have developed a pre-commercial prototype modular design for commercial cooling applications.