Thermoelastic cooling

A cooling system, comprising:

• a heat sink;
• a refrigeration space;
• and
• a regenerator including:
• a plurality of solid thermoelastic materials capable of exhibiting thermoelastic effect, each of said plurality of solid thermoelastic materials having an austenite phase and a martensite phase, each solid thermoelastic material undergoing a phase transition from the austenite phase to the martensite phase, releasing latent heat, when mechanically stressed, and undergoing a phase transition from the martensite phase to the austenite phase, absorbing latent heat, when relaxed from the mechanically stressed state, and
• stress and relax means for mechanically stressing the solid thermoelastic material to cause the phase transition from the austenite phase to the martensite phase to release the latent heat to the heat sink, the stress and relax means being also configured for relaxing the mechanically stressed solid thermoelastic material to cause the phase transition from the martensite phase to the austenite phase to absorb the latent heat from the refrigeration space,
• wherein said stress and relax means supports said plurality of solid thermoelastic materials to be discontinuous from each other,
• wherein said plurality of solid thermoelastic materials include two sets of solid thermoelastic members,
• wherein the stress and relax means includes end plates respectively limiting respective ends of said two sets of the solid thermoelastic members, said end plates being fixed in position and placed apart at such a prescribed distance therebetween as to compressively enclose said two sets of the solid thermoelastic members, and said prescribed distance between the end plates being such that when the stress and relax means is in a neutral position, the two sets of the solid thermoelastic members are both at the same time in a biasing compressing state that is in the middle of a reversible phase transformation between austenite and martensite, and
• wherein the stress and relax means is configured to stress one of said two sets of the solid thermoelastic members to fully transform to martensite so as to release heat, while relaxing another one of said two sets of the solid thermoelastic members to fully transform to austenite so as to absorb heat.

A regenerator for use in a heat exchange system to extract heat from a refrigeration space and release heat to a heat sink, the regenerator comprising:

• a plurality of solid thermoelastic materials capable of exhibiting thermoelastic effect, each of said plurality of solid thermoelastic materials having an austenite phase and a martensite phase, each solid thermoelastic material undergoing a phase transition from the austenite phase to the martensite phase, releasing latent heat, when mechanically stressed, and undergoing a phase transition from the martensite phase to the austenite phase, absorbing latent heat, when relaxed from the mechanically stressed state;
• and
• stress and relax means for mechanically stressing the solid thermoelastic material to cause the phase transition from the austenite phase to the martensite phase to release the latent heat from the solid thermoelastic material, the stress and relax means being also configured for relaxing the mechanically stressed solid thermoelastic material to cause the phase transition from the martensite phase to the austenite phase to absorb the latent heat,
• wherein said stress and relax means supports said plurality of solid thermoelastic materials to be discontinuous from each other,
• wherein said plurality of solid thermoelastic materials include two sets of solid thermoelastic members,
• wherein the stress and relax means includes end plates respectively limiting respective ends of said two sets of the solid thermoelastic members, said end plates being fixed in position and placed apart at such a prescribed distance therebetween as to compressively enclose said two sets of the solid thermoelastic members, and said prescribed distance between the end plates being such that when the stress and relax means is in a neutral position, the two sets of the solid thermoelastic members are both at the same time in a biasing compressing state that is in the middle of a reversible phase transformation between austenite and martensite, and
• wherein the stress and relax means is configured to stress one of said two sets of the solid thermoelastic members to fully transform to martensite so as to release heat, while relaxing another one of said two sets of the solid thermoelastic members to fully transform to austenite so as to absorb heat.