A Cambridge startup is betting on plastic crystals to transform refrigeration by replacing gases with solid materials that change temperature under pressure, in a technology still under development and initially aimed at commercial systems. A startup affiliated with the University of Cambridge is working on a refrigeration technology that exchanges gases for solid materials capable […]
I think that’s sort of the trick. They do the plastic deformation “permanently” into one shape, then they “permanently” deform it back. I assume there’s some crystal lattice stuff going on that makes one of the deformations require more/less energy than the other deformation, and thus the heat created doesn’t quite balance, meaning you can now theoretically transfer heat energy with it.