Material screening metrics and optimal performance of an active magnetic regenerator

A variety of metrics to rank the magnetocaloric materials can be found in the literature, but a quantitative assessment showing their efficacy has not been reported. A numerical model of an active magnetic regenerator cycle is used to assess the predictive ability of a set of material metrics. The performance of eight cases of known magnetocaloric material (including first order MnFeP1-xAsx and second order materials Gd, GdDy, Tb), and 15 cases of hypothetical materials are considered. Using a fixed regenerator matrix geometry, magnetic field, and flow waveforms, the maximum exergetic cooling power of each material is identified. Several material screening metrics such as relative cooling power (RCP) are tested and a linear correlation is found between maximum RCP and the maximum exergetic cooling power. The sensitivity of performance to variations in the hot side and cold side temperatures from the conditions giving maximum exergetic power are determined.