Optimisation of a packed particle magnetocaloric refrigerator: A combined experimental and theoretical study

Abstract

Magnetocaloric refrigeration has strong potential towards achieving high efficiency hydrogen liquefaction. Optimising parameters such as particle size and operating cycles can have a significant impact on liquefaction performance. This work reports on a room temperature magnetocaloric refrigeration prototype designed with helium as the heat transfer fluid and packed particle Gd0.8875Ce0.1025Si0.84Cr0.19 as the refrigerant. The temperature spans and cooling power with three different particle sizes at two different operating cycles were measured. A maximum temperature span of 16.7 K and a maximum cooling power of 8.6 W kg−1 were obtained. Reduction of performance in the faster cycle was observed in larger particles due to insufficient thermal diffusion time and its implications for cryogenic temperatures are discussed. A numerical model was developed based on the experimentally observed variation of the temperature span and cooling power with particle size and cycle duration. This model was then used to study the competing effects of viscous dissipation and thermal diffusion for different particle sizes and cycle durations.