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Division of Applied Thermodynamics and Refrigeration

Research and education at the Division of Applied Thermodynamics and Refrigeration is mainly focused on energy transformations in the built environment. Our area includes the whole scale from systems studies about energy user and energy flows in cities and buildings, to system components, as heat pumps and heat exchangers.

Research Areas

Smart and sustainable buildings

Buildings generate nearly 40% of the total direct and indirect CO2 emissions in the world. Studies concerning “production” units of energy, distribution of energy, and end use of it are relevant within this area.

Integrated Energy Systems

The immediate challenges of climate change demand that we utilize all of the sustainable technologies afforded to us.

Photo: Federico Beddari on Unsplash

Heating, cooling and refrigeration systems

Our research focuses on providing sustainable and efficient heating, cooling and refrigeration systems for a large variety of applications.

Thermal energy storage

As thermal energy accounts for more than half of the global final energy demands, thermal energy storage is unequivocally a key element in today’s energy systems to fulfill climate targets.

Heat transfer and heat exchangers

Heat transfer is involved in all thermal processes and the efficiency of the heat transfer is of utmost importance for the efficiency of the process as a whole.

Refrigeration and heat pump components

With new refrigerants and higher demand on efficiency new highly efficient compressors, heat exchangers, and expansion devices need to be developed.

Meet the division  

Recent publications

[1]
A. T. Mossie et al., "Energy demand flexibility potential in cement industries: How does it contribute to energy supply security and environmental sustainability?," Applied Energy, vol. 377, 2025.
[2]
P. Fagrell and J. Anund Vogel, "Building The Future : Unveiling Educational and Competence Demands for Smart and Sustainable Buildings," Civil engineering research journal, vol. 14, no. 3, 2024.
[3]
A. Shahcheraghian, H. Madani Larijani and A. Ilinca, "From White to Black-Box Models : A Review of Simulation Tools for Building Energy Management and Their Application in Consulting Practices," Energies, vol. 17, no. 2, 2024.
Full list in the KTH publications portal

Vision and mission

We aim to design refrigeration and heat pump systems more energy efficient and with smaller footprints on the environment.

Most of our research is applied and has a clear environmental focus. In almost all projects industry is involved, and the project ideas are often developed in cooperation with industry.