Preliminary Investigation on a Rotary Magnetocaloric Refrigerator Prototype

Environmental legislations are currently imposing important restrictions to regulate the use of refrigerant fluids in order to reduce the greenhouse gases emissions and global warming potential. To overcome these issues, a valid alternative to replace conventional refrigeration systems can be represented by magnetic refrigeration. Since magnetic refrigeration is based on the magnetocaloric effect it represents an environmental friendly technology that avoids the use of Chlorinated refrigerants. In this paper a preliminary analysis of a novel magnetocaloric refrigerator is presented. The magnetocaloric refrigeration prototype uses Gadolinium as refrigerant and water as heat exchange medium, and relies on permanent magnets as magnetic field source. The device operates according to the active regenerative principle with a rotary movement. A detailed description of the main components included in the design of the prototype device is presented along with a schematic representation of the hydraulic circuit. Focusing on the regenerators beds, some simulations have been carried out to quantify the heat energy fluxes between water and gadolinium. The results of the simulations show a decrease on gadolinium temperature distribution cycle by cycle highlighting the actual effect of the regeneration.