Development of an experimental rotary magnetic refrigerator prototype
B. Huang (TU Delft - QRD/Kouwenhoven Lab, South China University of Technology)
J. W. Lai (South China University of Technology, TU Delft - RST/Fundamental Aspects of Materials and Energy)
D. C. Zeng (South China University of Technology)
Z. G. Zheng (South China University of Technology)
B. Harrison (External organisation)
A. Oort (TU Delft - EMSD AS-south Project technicians)
N. H. van Dijk (TU Delft - RST/Fundamental Aspects of Materials and Energy)
E. Brück (TU Delft - RST/Fundamental Aspects of Materials and Energy)
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Abstract
A rotary active magnetic regeneration refrigerator prototype named FAME Cooler was developed for studying the performance of different magnetocaloric materials in a realistic practical environment. The rotary magnetic field source generates an average magnetic field of 0.875 T within a volume of 0.71 l The regenerator is designed asymmetrically and holds in total 1.18 kg of gadolinium spheres for a first performance test. Combined with a real-time controlled programmable solenoid-valves system, different working parameters or thermodynamic cycles can be applied. In the performance test, while the temperature of system hot side was fixed at 295 K, under a utilization condition of 0.25, this prototype achieved a maximum zero-span cooling power of 162.4 W, and a zero-power temperature span of 11.6 K. Under a utilization condition of 0.15, a maximum COP of 1.85 was reached. These performance metrics are comparable with existing magnetic heat pump devices of the same scale.