Gustav Fredrik Lorentzen (13 January 1915 – 7 August 1995) was a thermodynamic scientist from Norway.
Gustav Lorentzen was a professor at Norwegian Institute of Technology, and Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
In the late 1980s, Gustav Lorentzen rediscovered how CO2 could be used as a refrigerant in heating and cooling applications.
He developed the modern thermodynamic transcritical cycle in 1988-1991.
In 1988 Lorentzen designed a concept for a new, but simple and efficient way of regulating CO2 systems.
This idea became the turning point in the re-invention of CO2 cooling technology.
Meanwhile, the Japanese corporation Denso had familiarized itself with Lorentzen's dissertation in 1993, and was evaluating the concept as a basis for a new air-condition application in cars.
A series of communications between Lorentzen and Denso followed and the result of the collaboration between Lorentzen and Denso was a fundamental step in the innovation of EcoCute which was commercialized in 2000s.