A team of scientists from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), DTU Energy Conversion, have visited the Brazilian university Universidad Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) to exchange knowledge and initiate a Danish-Brazilian research cooperation on Magnetic Refrigeration.
Magnetocaloric Refrigeration is an emerging technology with great potential for innovation and scientific development, and DTU Energy Conversion attracted international attention in 2012 by setting a new record for active Magnetic Refrigeration.
“We strive to further increase the efficiency within our field of research, and we see great perspectives in cooperation with the scientists at UFSC”, says senior researcher Christian Bahl, DTU Energy Conversion. “They work in the same field of research, but they do it in slightly different ways and use other thermodynamic analysis methods, than we do, which actually makes us perfect research partners”.
The interest was mutual, so a team of six Danish scientists travelled to Brazil with financial backing from the Danish Agency for Science, Technology to participate in a weeklong workshop on UFSC.
The team included senior researcher Christian Bahl, researcher Kaspar Nielsen, Development engineer Dan Eriksen, Chief Consultant Anders Smith, PhD student Lars von Moos and Head of section Nini Pryds, all doing research in Magnetic Refrigeration at DTU Energy Conversion. They spent a whole week exchanging knowledge on everything from the latest research in Magnetic Refrigeration over the pros and cons on the newest research equipment to pinpointing the next big issues in future research.
“I was really impressed by the Brazilian scientific standards. Off course we saw the huge social differences, the Brazilians have to cope with, but it is my firm impression that Brazil is investing heavily in university research”, says senior researcher Christian Bahl.
“The research at UFSC is state of the art. It was a good week with very good discussions.”
The Danish-Brazilian workshop identified a series of points of mutual interest and the foundations of a good and continuous research partnership have been laid. This will result in a series of joint publications; as well as by exchanging PhD-students between DTU and UFSC and in the future joint research projects.
DTU Energy Conversion is very much focusing on international research collaborations; in June researchers will participate in a similar workshop on oxide thin film technologies in Israel.