A review of magnetic refrigerator and heat pump prototypes built before the year 2010

Magnetic refrigeration, heating and power conversion technologies are interesting alternatives to the conventional refrigeration, heat pumping and different conventional energy conversion technologies. At present they all show a realistic potential to enter conventional markets, respectively to be applied in a few years. In this review paper, mainly magnetic refrigeration and magnetic heating are addressed and from these two technologies the main part is dedicated to magnetic refrigeration at room temperature. This article covers the demand of giving a complete list and description of existing magnetic heating and cooling prototypes up to the year 2010. Forty-one machines, their components and operation principles are presented in detail.