Commissariat &#xc0; L'&#xc9;nergie Atomique Et Aux &#xc9;nergies Alternatives

Neil Mathur

Emmanuel Defay

Ghislain Despesse

Sohini Kar-Narayan

Jordane Soussi

A module for warming and, alternately, for cooling, this module comprising an electrocaloric capacitor, an electrical energy storage device and a controllable circuit for transferring electrical energy between the electrocaloric capacitor and the energy storage device. The controllable circuit comprising an inductor connected between the electrocaloric capacitor and the storage device and at least one controllable switch. There is further included a unit programmed to control the switch so as to cause the transfer circuit to toggle successively into the following states and in the following order: an energy recovery state, a disabled state in which it electrically isolates the electrocaloric capacitor and the energy storage device, an energy release state and the disabled state, and each time to maintain the transfer circuit in the disabled state for a duration greater than a predetermined threshold.

Module for warming and, alternately, for cooling

A method for limiting temperature variation of an electrical component includes detecting a switch from passive to active states and, in response, varying a potential difference between capacitor electrodes from a first value to a second value, the electrodes being mechanically and electrically insulated from each other by a layer of electrocaloric dielectric, and in response to detecting a switch from active to passive states, varying the potential difference between the electrodes from the second to the first value.

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Cambridge, United Kingdom

Neil Mathur