Static and rotating active magnetic regenerators with porous heat exchangers for magnetic cooling

The operation behaviour of an active magnetic regenerator (AMR) with a wavy-structure, or a honeycomb-like regenerator bed was numerically investigated. The thermodynamic model was applied to a static regenerator and - in a generalized version to a rotary type. The models take two-dimensional unsteady heat conduction in the magnetic material during the four basic processes of the AMR cycle into account. The numerical results were used to determine optimal arrangements of different magnetic materials in order to obtain larger temperature spans between both ends of the porous beds. Furthermore, a first study of magnetic flux lines in a porous rotary heat exchanger was performed. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.