Finite-element optimisation of electrocaloric multilayer capacitors

We used finite element analysis to model the flow of heat in multilayer capacitors (MLCs) that comprise good electrocaloric materials and high-thermal-conductivity electrodes. An ideal heat pump based on these MLCs could develop a sustained cooling power of 81.7 kW m−2. This supersedes the 36 kW m−2 predicted by a lumped thermal model [S. Kar-Narayan and N. D. Mathur, Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 242903 (2009)]. We show that geometrical optimization increases predicted cooling power to 215 kW m−2.