Don’t get too excited as it’s commercial only for the time being and given the likely cost of magnetic cooling systems that’s not a shocker but what is significant is that it is now available at all.
GE and others have been said to be looking at this for future refrigeration products as well so it may well be only a matter of time before we see these in domestic fridge freezers as well. We don’t think it would be commercially viable in small units but on large side by sides and so on, probably it could work.
The diagram above explains the science behind this which is know as the magnetocaloric effect, which is the heating or cooling of magnetic material caused by applying a magnetic field to it, the magnetic unit is said to operate at low pressure with low rotational speed virtually eliminating vibrations, cutting noise to less than 35db, and reducing maintenance costs. In addition, the developers say that the system will have a virtually indefinite lifespan.
Given the low volume production and the complexity we would not expect this to be cheap though, now or anytime soon.
However it is said to be quieter, more energy efficient and more durable so to us it seems a no-brainer to try to develop this technology for domestic use as well as commercial.
GE have been working on it for some years now and posted this video on You Tube in 2014 that is quite interesting and explains it in as layman type terms as they could get.
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The developer that is set to launch the product commercially is Cooltech Applications, a company based in Holtzheim, near Strasbourg.
Cooltech is applying the technology in its magnetic refrigeration system (MRS) product line.
With cooling capacities between 200W and 700W, the MRS product line is said to be optimised for a wide range of products in commercial refrigeration, including medical refrigerators, display cabinets, beverage dispensers, store plugins, and wine cellars. Like we said, not aimed at the domestic market yet but clearly this technology should eventually filter down.
“The MRS200 was successfully demonstrated last year at the Medica tradeshow in one of our medical refrigerating equipment,” said Jochen Kopitzke, CEO of Kirsch International which is a leading manufacturer of medical equipment. “We are looking forward to replacing compressor-based units in the near future and expect a very positive market reaction to this major innovation.”
OCF, the French manufacturer of refrigerated display cabinets, is expected to be one of the first adopt the new technology.
“We are integrating the MRS400 in our high-end refrigerated displays and expect to demonstrate our first magnetic-based product within a couple of months,” said Guillaume Zanlorenzi, CEO of OCF. “This is a unique opportunity to differentiate ourselves from our competition”.
“We are delighted to be the pioneers of a true green commercial magnetic refrigeration system,” said Christian Muller, CEO of Cooltech. “This is the first highly energy efficient commercial solution to be available on the market in the magnetic cooling sector, providing a first-to-market advantage for our customers.”
What is fairly evident is that the commercial world seems to be headed down this path and, if the cabinets are much more efficient then this makes perfect sense as, in a commercial environment where the machines have large capacities and are required to run for extended period with minimum maintenance costs it makes a heap of sense.
Whether the costs can be brought down to make that viable for domestic use as yet we simply do not know. We will have to wait and see how the technology develops to make a call on that.
