Experimental investigation on refrigeration performance of a reciprocating active magnetic regenerator of room temperature magnetic refrigeration

Room temperature magnetic refrigeration has been proved to be a feasible refrigerating technology and has a prosperous application potential. In this research, magnetocaloric effect (MCE) of metal gadolinium is measured and the metal is prepared from ingot to granular state by method of hydriding–ball milling–dehydriding. The other compound, Gd₅Si₂Ge₂ alloy, is also prepared into grains by mechanical comminuting and its magnetocaloric property is obtained. An experimental system of room temperature magnetic refrigeration is established, and three kinds of magnetic refrigerant (MR I: 0.3 mm mean diameter gadolinium particle, MR II: 0.55 mm mean diameter gadolinium particle and MR III: 0.3–0.75 mm Gd₅Si₂Ge₂ alloy particle) are employed in AMR. Performance experiments of AMR system under various temperature range, temperature span, flow rate, and flow period conditions are investigated. The results indicate that AMR adopting MR I, II, III can generate a maximum refrigerating capacity of 18.7 W, 17.8 W, and 10.3 W, respectively, under a 3 K temperature span. With the increasing temperature span, the capacity decreases. MR I and MR II have an equivalent refrigerating ability higher than MR III.     

Thermodynamics of magnetic refrigeration

A comprehensive treatment of the thermodynamics of cyclic magnetic refrigeration processes is presented. It starts with a review of the work, heat and internal energy of a magnetized specimen in a magnetic field, and a list of the thermodynamic potentials is given. These are based on the very recent discovery of an alternative Kelvin force. It is shown that this force is compatible with the internal energy proposed by Landau and Lifshitz. New formulas for the specific enthalpies are presented. Cyclic processes are discussed in detail, e.g. the Brayton, Ericsson and Carnot cycles. Magnetic refrigeration and magnetic heat pump cycles are preferably designed by applying the cascade or/and regeneration principle. Cascade systems allow wider temperature ranges to be obtained. The main objective of this article is to yield a theoretical basis for an optimal design of new magnetic refrigeration and heat pump devices.     

Modeling of in-vehicle magnetic refrigeration

A high-performance magnetic refrigeration device is considered as a potential technology for in-vehicle air conditioners in electric vehicles. The high power consumption of a conventional air conditioner in an electric vehicle has considerable impacts on cruising distance. For this purpose the demands on cooling power density, temperature difference between hot and cold side, transient properties and COP, will be high. In this paper the potential to reach these demands are explored for two technologies, firstly a conventional AMR device and secondly a novel magnetocaloric device based on control of the axial thermal conductivity.     

利用永磁体的室温磁制冷机性能研究

介绍了利用1.5 T永磁体驱动,氦气作为换热流体,采用主动式磁回热器的室温磁制冷机的实验研究情况.在现有实验装置下,通过调节气体压力与循环频率,高低温端最大达到了10.7K的温差,研究结果为室温磁制冷机的设计以及进一步发展提供了参考.     

A theoretical study of a novel regenerative ejector refrigeration cycle

There has been a demand for developments of the ejector refrigeration systems using low grade thermal energy, such as solar energy and waste heat. In this paper, a novel regenerative ejector refrigeration cycle was described, which uses an auxiliary jet pump and a conventional regenerator to enhance the performance of the novel cycle. The theoretical analysis on the performance characteristics was carried out for the novel cycle with the refrigerant R141b. Compared with the conventional cycle, the simulation results show that the coefficient of performance (COP) of the novel cycle increases, respectively, by from 9.3 to 12.1% when generating temperature is in a range of 80–160 °C, the condensing temperature is in a range of 35–45 °C and the evaporating temperature is fixed at 10 °C. Especially due to the enhanced regeneration with increasing the pump outlet pressure, the improvement of COP of the novel cycle is approached to 17.8% compared with that in the conventional cycle under the operating condition that generating temperature is 100 °C, condensing temperature is 40 °C and evaporating temperature is 10 °C. Therefore, the characteristics of the novel cycle performance show its promise in using low grade thermal energy for the ejector refrigeration system.     

A magnetic field source system for magnetic refrigeration and its interaction with magnetocaloric material

The magnetic field source system constitutes an important component of magnetic refrigeration. A specific methodology for its' dimensioning is proposed in this paper. It is based on analytical calculation models and takes into account the geometry of the system, the magnetic properties of the magnetocaloric material and the magnetothermal cycle (direct or active magnetic regenerative refrigeration). The analytical calculation of the field is first developed and applied to usual permanent magnet-based field sources with and without soft magnetic materials. Then the forces generated by the interaction between the field and the magnetocaloric effect material are analytically evaluated considering the real field distribution. All calculations are validated thanks to two- or three-dimensional finite element method simulations.     

Analysis of room temperature magnetic regenerative refrigeration

Results of a room temperature magnetic refrigeration test bed and an analysis using a computational model are presented. A detailed demonstration of the four sequential processes in the transient magnetocaloric regeneration process of a magnetic material is presented. The temperature profile during the transient approach to steady state operation was measured in detail. A 5 °C evolution of the difference of temperature between the hot end and the cold end of the magnetocaloric bed due to regeneration is reported. A model is developed for the heat transfer and fluid mechanics of the four sequential processes in each cycle of thermal wave propagation in the regenerative bed combined with the magnetocaloric effect. The basic equations that can be used in simulation of magnetic refrigeration systems are derived and the design parameters are discussed.     

离心式制冷压缩机故障的模糊综合诊断

在离心式制冷压缩机故障的诊断过程中,通过模糊综合诊断体系的建立,以构造模糊诊断矩阵,再由现场观测到症状和数据,以确定严重程度值,并进行故障的模糊综合诊断。依据最大隶属度原则,就可确定压缩机故障的主要原因。利用模糊综合诊断法,可有效提高诊断结果的准确性。     

A demonstrator for a low-cost, cordless, multi-carrier spread-spectrum system

Because of the need for spectrally efficient systems for wireless communication, many research activities have been carried out in the area of spread-spectrum techniques. Multi-carrier spread-spectrum (MC-SS) is a new modulation technique with better spectral properties than direct-sequence spread-spectrum (DS-SS). In this paper, a new MC-SS system is introduced. A customized surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter has been designed as a fast analog correlator. A demonstrator testbed has been developed for the 2.4-GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band. Experimental measurements of the intermediate frequency (IF) and baseband correlation are presented.     

Numerical investigations on internal temperature distribution and refrigeration performance of reciprocating active magnetic regenerator of room temperature magnetic refrigeration

A two-dimension porous medium model for a reciprocating active magnetic regenerator (AMR) of room temperature magnetic refrigeration has been developed. The thermal diffusion effect, heat flux boundary effect and variable fluid physical properties are considered in the model. In the paper, we compare the numerical results of the porous medium model with the experimental data and the calculation results of one-dimension Schumann model to validate our model. Our model can simulate the operation of the reciprocating AMR effectively. With the present model, the internal heat exchange between the two phases is numerically investigated. The two dimensional temperature distributions of the magnetic refrigerant and the refrigeration performance of AMR are obtained, and the influence of the heat flux boundary effect and the variable fluid properties on them is discussed. AMR can achieve a maximum refrigeration capacity of 293.7 W with a corresponding coefficient of performance (COP) of 5.4.     

Improvements of a room-temperature magnetic refrigerator combined with Stirling cycle refrigeration effect

A high pressure hybrid refrigerator that combines the active magnetic refrigeration effect with the Stirling cycle refrigeration effect at room temperature is studied here. In the apparatus, a helium-gas-filled alfa-type Stirling refrigerator uses Gd sheets as the regenerator and the regenerator is put in a magnetic field varying from 0 to 1.4 T, which is provided by a Halbach-type rotary permanent magnet assembly. With an operating pressure of 5.5 MPa and a frequency of 2.5 Hz, a no-load temperature of 273.8 K was reached in 9 minutes, which is lower than that of 277.6 K for pure Stirling cycle. For the hybrid operation, cooling powers of 40.3 W and 56.4 W were achieved over temperature spans of 15 K and 12 K, respectively. For the latter case, the cooling power improves by 28.5% if compared with that exploiting only the Stirling cycle refrigeration effect.     

几种磁制冷材料的室温磁热效应

用高频悬浮炉(冷坩埚)熔炼了Gd5Si2Ge2、Gd4Sb1.5Bi1.5、Gd3Al2、Mn5Ge3等金属化合物.在磁场H=1.3T下,用XHY磁热效应测量仪直接测量它们的绝热温变△Tad,得到了这几种材料的居里点,并和金属Gd进行了比较.     

A theoretical study on a novel combined power and ejector refrigeration cycle

A new combined power and refrigeration cycle is proposed for the cogeneration, which combines the Rankine cycle and the ejector refrigeration cycle by adding an extraction turbine between heat recovery vapor generator (HRVG) and ejector. This combined cycle could produce both power output and refrigeration output simultaneously, and could be driven by the flue gas from gas turbine or engine, solar energy, geothermal energy and industrial waste heats. Parametric analysis and exergy analysis are conducted to examine the effects of thermodynamic parameters on the performance and exergy destruction in each component for the combined cycle. The results show that the condenser temperature, the evaporator temperature, the turbine inlet pressure, the turbine extraction pressure and extraction ratio have significant effects on the turbine power output, refrigeration output, exergy efficiency and exergy destruction in each component in the combined cycle. It is also shown that the biggest exergy destruction occurs in the heat recovery vapor generator, followed by the ejector and turbine.     

Review on research of room temperature magnetic refrigeration

Room temperature magnetic refrigeration is a new highly efficient and environmentally protective technology. Although it has not been maturely developed, it shows great applicable prosperity and seems to be a substitute for the traditional vapor compression technology. In this paper, the concept of magnetocaloric effect is explained. The development of the magnetic material, magnetic refrigeration cycles, magnetic field and the regenerator of room temperature magnetic refrigeration is introduced. Finally some typical room temperature magnetic refrigeration prototypes are reviewed.     

室温磁制冷研究进展

室温磁制冷技术是一项新的制冷技术,具有高效环保的特点,应用前景十分广阔,有望取代传统的蒸气压缩式制冷方法。阐述了磁热效应的原理,系统介绍了室温磁制冷中磁性材料、磁制冷循环、蓄冷器以及典型制冷机的发展情况,并对室温磁制冷的发展进行了展望。     

New versatile polydopamine coated functionalized magnetic nanoparticles

Polydopamine coated magnetite nanoparticles are functionalized with azido groups by reaction with 4-azidobutylamine. The resulting nanoparticles allow straight forward Cu-catalyzed “click”-reaction with alkynes. In this way practically interesting functions can be tethered to the nanoparticles as exemplified by introducing biotin, glucose, proline or dansyl. The nanoparticles exhibit superparamagnetic behavior.     

Numerical modeling on a reciprocating active magnetic regenerator refrigeration in room temperature

Considering the unignorable factors in practice, a new time independent, 2-dimensional porous media model of room-temperature Active Magnetic Regenerative Refrigeration (AMRR) has been proposed. The 2-D model improved the existing 1-dimensional model by introducing the influence of heat transfer effect though the regenerator wall and conduction for y-axis inside the regenerator. This study compared the previous 1-D model with the 2-D model and concluded that the system can lose 22% of cooling capacity caused by air convection and the conduction loss in y can reach to 10% of cooling capacity. It is concluded that the new model will be useful to predict the performance of room AMRR for more practical conditions.     

Performance characteristics of an irreversible magnetic Brayton refrigeration cycle

Based on the thermodynamic properties of a paramagnetic salt, an irreversible model of the magnetic Brayton refrigeration cycle is established, in which the working substance is a special paramagnetic material. The expressions of the important performance parameters, such as the coefficient of performance, refrigeration load and work input, are derived. Moreover, the optimal performance parameters are obtained at the maximum coefficient of performance. The results obtained here may include the ones of the magnetic Brayton refrigeration cycle using the magnetic material obeyed the Curie law as the working substance, the magnetic Brayton refrigeration cycle without regeneration and the eversible magnetic Brayton refrigeration cycle. Therefore, the results obtained here have general significance and will be helpful to deeply understand the performance of a magnetic Brayton refrigeration cycle.