Numerical investigations on internal temperature distribution and refrigeration performance of reciprocating active magnetic regenerator of room temperature magnetic refrigeration

A two-dimension porous medium model for a reciprocating active magnetic regenerator (AMR) of room temperature magnetic refrigeration has been developed. The thermal diffusion effect, heat flux boundary effect and variable fluid physical properties are considered in the model. In the paper, we compare the numerical results of the porous medium model with the experimental data and the calculation results of one-dimension Schumann model to validate our model. Our model can simulate the operation of the reciprocating AMR effectively. With the present model, the internal heat exchange between the two phases is numerically investigated. The two dimensional temperature distributions of the magnetic refrigerant and the refrigeration performance of AMR are obtained, and the influence of the heat flux boundary effect and the variable fluid properties on them is discussed. AMR can achieve a maximum refrigeration capacity of 293.7 W with a corresponding coefficient of performance (COP) of 5.4.