Advanced Barocaloric Systems for Sustainable Commercial Cooling Applications

Informazioni relative al progetto

BAROCAL

ID dell’accordo di sovvenzione: 101218476

DOI

10.3030/101218476

Data della firma CE 4 Giugno 2025

Data di avvio 1 Luglio 2025

Data di completamento 30 Giugno 2027

Finanziato da

• The European Innovation Council (EIC)

Costo totale

Nessun dato

Contributo UE

€ 2 447 375,00

Coordinato da

Barocal Ltd
United Kingdom

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

Periodo di rendicontazione: 2025-07-01 al 2026-06-30

Sintesi del contesto e degli obiettivi generali del progetto

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.

Lavoro eseguito dall’inizio del progetto fino alla fine del periodo coperto dalla relazione e principali risultati finora ottenuti

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.

Progressi oltre lo stato dell’arte e potenziale impatto previsto (incluso l’impatto socioeconomico e le implicazioni sociali più ampie del progetto fino ad ora)

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.