Continuous and efficient elastocaloric air cooling by coil-bending

Elastocaloric cooling has emerged as an eco-friendly technology capable of eliminating greenhouse-gas refrigerants. However, its development is limited by the large driving force and low efficiency in uniaxial loading modes. Here, we present a low-force and energy-efficient elastocaloric air cooling approach based on coil-bending of NiTi ribbons/wires. Our air cooler achieves continuous cold outlet air with a temperature drop of 10.6 K and a specific cooling power of 2.5 W g(−1) at a low specific driving force of 26 N g(−1). Notably, the cooler shows a system coefficient of performance of 3.7 (ratio of cooling power to rotational mechanical power). These values are realized by the large specific heat transfer area (12.6 cm(2) g(−1)) and the constant cold zone of NiTi wires. Our coil-bending system exhibits a competitive performance among caloric air coolers.