Refrigeration Performance of Active Magnetic Regenerator with Layered Beds of Manganese(Mn)–based Compounds

Abstract

Interest in the roomtemperature magnetic refrigerator, which is an environmentally friendly refrigeration system, is increasing. Previous studies have revealed that the maximum temperature span of the magnetic refrigerator is expanded by layered beds of multiple materials with different curie temperatures in AMR(Active Magnetic Regenerator). But, the effective factors of the layered beds configuration of multiple materials are not revealed. In this study, we investigated with onedimensional heat transfer numerical analysis the performance of layered beds of manganese(Mn)based compounds which has a larger magnetic entropy change than conventional gadolinium(Gd)based compounds. Analysis results show that when the AMR duct length and the curie temperature of the cold end and hot end materials are fixed, the achieved temperature span of multilayered beds is not affected by the curie temperature interval, while its cooling power is increased with the decreasing of the curie temperature interval. In the layered beds of multiple materials with the preferable curie temperature interval, the achieved cooling power is determined by the cold side materials, on the other hand the temperature span is expanded by the other materials.