this post was submitted on 11 May 2026
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While refrigerators and air conditioners still rely on gases that can leak, a Cambridge startup raises $10 million to create refrigeration with plastic crystals that cool when squeezed. (en.clickpetroleoegas.com.br)
submitted 5 days ago by sanitation@lemmy.radio to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] cecilkorik@lemmy.ca 5 points 4 days ago

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.