Thermodynamic Performance Assessment and Comparison of Active Magnetic Regenerative and Conventional Refrigeration Systems

Abstract

Comprehensive thermodynamic analyses, performance assessments, and comparative evaluations of active magnetic regenerative (AMR) and conventional vapor-compression-based refrigeration systems are presented in this study. The active magnetic regenerative (AMR) uses a magnetic material as a thermal storage medium and as a refrigerating medium. A parametric analysis is to investigate the influences of various operating conditions and/or parameters on the thermodynamic performance of the AMR cycle. In this regard, these performance results are compared with the published experimental data for a traditional refrigeration system with the same refrigeration capacity and temperature span. The results of this particular study show that the COP of the AMR cycle changes very little with varying hot source temperature. It is shown that the conventional vapor-compression-based refrigeration cycles offer better performance than the active magnetic regenerative refrigeration systems.