Imagine you're wearing a pair of amazing sweatpants that can regulate your temperature at any time, whether it's hot in the summer or cold in the winter, to keep you comfortable. These ‘air-conditioned trousers’ are like Elastic Cooling Technology, which allows you to respond to different temperature changes on demand so that you are no longer limited in your temperature regulation.

Elastic cooling technology is an innovative method of cooling that utilises the physical properties of materials. Traditional air conditioners or refrigerators rely on refrigerants and compressors to cool down by changing the pressure of the gas to absorb heat. However, this method is often inefficient and can also hurt the environment. Flexible cooling technology arguably brings a whole new way of thinking about temperature control. Traditional cooling methods rely on refrigerants and complex mechanical structures to absorb and release heat by changing the state of the gas, which not only consumes high amounts of energy but also has a potentially negative impact on the environment. Elastic cooling technology, on the other hand, turns this traditional approach on its head, and centres on the use of special materials with ‘muscular’ properties.

These materials can be seen as an example of smart materials, which can change their internal structure, and therefore their temperature, when subjected to external forces, such as compression, stretching or twisting. Imagine these materials as being made up of countless tiny ‘muscle’ fibres that respond to external forces with a corresponding ‘movement’: when a force is applied, these ‘muscle’ fibres contract or twist. When an external force is applied, these ‘muscle’ fibres contract or distort, the molecular structure of the material changes, and the heat is released, thus making the material cooler; when the external force disappears, the material returns to its original state, and the temperature rises. The physical properties of this material are similar to the process of building your muscles at the gym. When you do push-ups or lift weights, your muscles contract and generate strength; when you relax, they return to their original state. Elasto-cooling materials work a bit like this fitness process, except that instead of force, heat is released and absorbed in the process.

The key to these materials is their ‘shape memory alloy’ properties. Shape-memory alloys are materials that ‘remember’ their shape at a specific temperature, and when the temperature or force changes, these materials return to their previous shape, along with the temperature change. This enables elastomeric cooling technology to achieve efficient heat management and is also more environmentally friendly as it does not rely on traditional refrigerants.

It is this intelligent design based on material properties that make elasto-cooling a highly efficient, flexible and low-energy solution for temperature control. It can be used in a wide range of applications, from cooling small electronic devices to temperature control systems in large buildings. In other words, elastic-cooling offers a more natural and environmentally friendly approach to temperature management, like providing us with ‘smart sweatpants’ that regulate their temperature, comfortably and efficiently.

As an example, when you are squeezing a balloon filled with water, the moment you squeeze, the shape of the balloon changes and the water flow is redistributed inside. This change is similar to the change of state that occurs in an elastically cooled material when a force is applied. The difference is that the elastic cooling material also releases part of the heat in the process, thus achieving the cooling effect. This technology is expected to be used in a wide range of scenarios in the future, such as cooling electric car batteries or achieving more efficient temperature regulation in building materials. If the walls of a building can be like your ‘air-conditioned sweatpants’, according to the outdoor temperature automatically adjust their temperature, both environmental protection and power saving.

In addition, resilient cooling technology has a very pleasing advantage: it's quiet. Unlike conventional air conditioners that make noise, this technology makes almost no sound, making it comfortable and non-intrusive. Elastic cooling technology is like a smarter and more environmentally friendly way to regulate temperature, it uses the ‘movement’ characteristics of materials to achieve cooling, as if for our life tailored to a set of ‘temperature regulation equipment’, so that the temperature regulation has become more simple and flexible. Flexible.

（Writer：Hoock）