EQUIUM

Sound as an active principle

Heating with sound is possible! At least, that’s what a breakthrough technology allows, providing optimal thermal comfort while reducing CO2 emissions by 80% compared to thermal solutions. EQUIUM has made this its speciality. Based in Saint-Herblain, near Nantes, this deep-tech startup for the energy transition was founded by Cédric François, an expert in innovation through design for impactful solutions. This entrepreneur had the idea of drawing on the work carried out by his father, a teacher-researcher at the CNRS in thermoacoustics. This science is at the crossroads of many disciplines: acoustics, thermodynamics, electrical engineering, thermics and fluid mechanics.  It demonstrates that the generation of acoustic waves makes it possible to achieve a thermodynamic compression-expansion cycle quite similar to that of a heat pump but without refrigerants. This is what EQUIUM has called harmonic compression. The harmonic compression heat pump retains all the advantages of a traditional heat pump (efficiency, ability to produce heat or cold) while being as easy to control, quiet and robust as an electric radiator.

EQUIUM’s small team of about 15 technicians and engineers reflects the diversity of knowledge required to cover all the development issues of this revolutionary heat pump, which avoids greenhouse gases. After five years of R&D, it is now in the industrialisation phase of EQORE ®, its heat pump core. A phase of experimentation in real conditions of this harmonic compression heat pump is planned from the end of 2023; before a commercial launch in the summer of 2024.