NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF A RECIPROCATIVE ACTIVE MAGNETIC REGENERATOR - PART I: FLUID FLOW AND HEAT TRANSFER MODELING

摘要

This is the first part of a paper devoted to an evaluation of the thermal behavior of a magnetic-Brayton-based reciprocative AMR. A time-dependent, 2D model of the fluid flow and the coupled heat transfer between the working fluid and the solid refrigerant is proposed. A hybrid solution methodology has been adopted, which consists of an analytical solution of the flow and a numerical solution for the thermal field. The reciprocating velocity field in the regenerator was analyzed in terms of a kinetic Reynolds number. Results for the cooling capacity as a function of the temperature span and mass flow rate agree well with the trends observed in the experimental data and other theoretical models available in the literature.