Magnetocaloric heat pumps: Innovative heating and cooling systems

The increasing demand for energy-efficient heating systems and the booming of the air conditioner market create an urge for new cost-effective heating and cooling solutions. Currently, the vapour-compression heat pumps dominate this market. However, these conventional systems present some limitations. New innovative systems based on different caloric effects, such as the magnetocaloric effect, have the potential to overcome those limitations. In the recent years, several prototypes of magnetocaloric heat pumps have been successfully built and tested. They show very promising performances that are similar to that of conventional systems. Nonetheless, more R&D are needed before they become competitive.