The role of external heat exchangers in the performance of active magnetic refrigerator

Abstract

The static performance of an Active Magnetic Regenerator Refrigerator (AMRR) can be evaluated using various indicators, such as the refrigeration capacity, coefficient of performance, and efficiency, for a given temperature span (that is, the hot-to-cold heat source temperature difference). The two main control parameters (cycle frequency and fluid mass flow rate) must be adjusted according to the imposed temperature span to achieve optimum performance. However, in real-world operations, heat exchangers at both ends of the regenerator thermally connect the device to the surroundings, and the hot and cold temperatures are no more imposed quantities. Under these heat transfer constraints, the device performance, in terms of refrigeration capacity, could be suboptimal, even after adjusting the two control parameters. Indeed, to provide optimal performance, heat exchangers must have precise values of the overall heat transfer coefficient, depending on the desired operating temperature difference. So, if a single pair of heat exchangers are used, it is impossible to characterize the performance of the magnetic refrigerator at different temperature spans. This work compares the systematic procedures for evaluating the performance of a magnetic refrigeration device either with heat exchangers at the cold and hot ends or with an imposed temperature span. Both procedures can be used to obtain the optimal AMRR performance curves. However, this work highlights the necessity to use different (or variable heat transfer coefficient) heat exchangers when the first procedure is adopted. The needed overall heat transfer characteristic of both heat exchangers will be lower for a higher temperature span.