Equium

EQUIUM is a Nantes-based deeptech company founded in 2017. It develops, industrialises and markets compressor-free heat pumps whose active principle is acoustic resonance—a new approach to thermodynamics. This entirely French generation of heat pumps is designed to accelerate the decarbonisation of building heating and cooling.

Acoustic heat pumps

Thermal comfort in buildings accounts for around 20% of greenhouse-gas emissions in France and must be extensively decarbonised if the country is to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. EQUIUM addresses this challenge with the first thermodynamic heat pump based on the thermal effects of acoustics.

The technology combines the energy efficiency of thermodynamic systems with the robustness, quiet operation and simplicity of an electric radiator. It is straightforward to install, use and maintain and avoids harmful conventional refrigerants.

EQUIUM’s technology builds on thermoacoustic research carried out at LIMSI in Orsay from the late 1990s under Maurice François, who founded HEKYOM in 2006. In 2017 his son Cédric François created EQUIUM, taking over HEKYOM’s assets and expertise to turn the science into an industrial technology with a positive environmental impact.

The new-generation pump uses the thermal effect of acoustics, known as harmonic compression, in place of the mechanical vapour compression used by conventional heat pumps. An acoustic wave compresses and expands helium, drawing heat from one environment to heat or cool another.

Harmonic compression retains the benefits of a conventional refrigerant heat pump—a coefficient of performance between 3 and 4, reversible operation and fully electric, zero-direct-emission use—while improving critical aspects of operation, maintenance, electricity consumption, robustness and service life:

• Cleaner: helium is an inert gas with zero global-warming potential, reducing ozone-layer and CO₂ impacts compared with conventional refrigerants.
• More robust: the core technology has no wearing parts, reducing maintenance and extending service life.
• More efficient: acoustic modulation avoids on/off cycling and lowers annual energy use.
• Simpler to install and maintain: there is no conventional refrigerant, and the working gas is neither flammable nor explosive.
• More comfortable: no compressor means less noise and vibration, with a stated sound level below 30 dB.

EQUIUM’s solution also supports the creation of a fully French heat-pump industry, including all thermodynamic components.