Silicon Heat Switches for Electrocaloric Cooling

This paper presents two versions of a silicon mechanical heat switch designed for electrocaloric cooling. The first design, which consists of two 10-mm-by-12.8-mm micromachined silicon parts, allows investigation of the performance of a reciprocating solid thermal shunt device. This heat switch has a measured thermal contrast ratio in the range of 34-59. The second design adds self-alignment featu...