The geometric effects of one-dimensional magnetocaloric beds to the efficiency of an active magnetic regenerator: A numerical study

摘要

Active magnetic regenerators (AMR) are one of prominent alternative refrigeration cycles with a potential to replace conventional refrigerators based on compressed vaper-liquid systems. The magnetocaloric effect of the magnetic bedding solid is at the center of the AMR operation. This work focuses on the numerical investigation of the AMR performances based on the particular designs of multi-layered magnetocaloric beds of 10 layers with the total lengths of 50 mm and 80 mm. The numerical method was based on solving a set of relevant partial differential equations with an interpolating scheme to incorporate the entropic effects of the magnetocaloric beds. Key performance parameters of the two designs were compared against one another. It was found that the choice of 80 mm total bed length yielded only slightly higher performances which implies minuscule economical return in changing the design bed length from 50 mm to 80 mm. The developed numerical scheme allows for the further study of influence of fluid volume flow rate, operating frequency, and utilization to the AMR performance.