Recent research into the development of magnetic refrigeration (MR) operating at room temperature has shown that it can provide a reliable, energy-efficient cooling system. To enhance the cooling power of the magnetic refrigerator, it is required to use a magnetic refrigerant material with large magnetocaloric effect (MCE) at the appropriate temperature. Most advanced magnetic refrigerant materials show largest MCE at high applied magnetic fields generated by a superconducting magnet. For application of MCE to air conditioners or household refrigerators, it is essential to develop a permanent magnet array to form a compact, strong, and energy-efficient magnetic field generator. Generating a magnetic field well above the remanence of a permanent magnetmaterial is hard to achieve through conventional designs. A permanent magnet array based on a hollow cylindrical flux source is found to provide an appropriate geometry and magnetic field strength for MR applications.
Keywords
Magnetic fields, Permanent magnets, Magnetic materials, Refrigerators, Magnetoresistance
Disciplines
Electromagnetics and Photonics
CommentsThe following article is from Journal of Applied Physics 91 (2002) Recent research into the development of magnetic refrigeration ͑MR͒ operating at room temperature has shown that it can provide a reliable, energy-efficient cooling system. To enhance the cooling power of the magnetic refrigerator, it is required to use a magnetic refrigerant material with large magnetocaloric effect ͑MCE͒ at the appropriate temperature. Most advanced magnetic refrigerant materials show largest MCE at high applied magnetic fields generated by a superconducting magnet. For application of MCE to air conditioners or household refrigerators, it is essential to develop a permanent magnet array to form a compact, strong, and energy-efficient magnetic field generator. Generating a magnetic field well above the remanence of a permanent magnet material is hard to achieve through conventional designs. A permanent magnet array based on a hollow cylindrical flux source is found to provide an appropriate geometry and magnetic field strength for MR applications.
An equation for the dependence of magnetization on magnetic field in the case of two-dimensional (base plane) anisotropy has been derived. The resulting equation is expressed as an infinite series of modified Bessel functions, unlike the elementary function expressions that are applicable to the one-dimensional (axially anisotropic) and three-dimensional (isotropic) cases. Nevertheless, in the low-field limit, the series can be effectively truncated to give an approximate solution, while, in the high-field limit, an alternative expression has been derived which represents the limiting function as the field strength tends to infinity. The resulting expressions can be used to describe the superparamagnetic magnetization and susceptibility as a function of magnetic field in situations where the magnetic moments are constrained to lie in a plane, with no preferred direction within the plane. This can therefore be applied to two-dimensional structures, such as magnetic thin films, where magnetostatic energy confines the moments to the plane of the film, or to three-dimensional structures with planar magnetocrystalline anisotropy.
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