Design of a Magnetic Cooling Device Using Gadolinium Alloy and Permanent Magnets

Abstract

Traditionally, heat pumps and refrigerators utilize the vapor compression cycle to achieve cooling. These vapor compression cycles use hydrochlorofluorocarbons (R134a) as the cycle’s working fluid. This refrigerant contributes to global warming and is expected to be phased out. Consequently, new refrigerants as well as new refrigeration methods need to be developed. The research detailed in this article attempts to implement the magnetocaloric effect of gadolinium alloy in a designed apparatus to lower the temperature of air. Gadolinium alloy has a noticeable magnetocaloric effect within a strong magnetic field (5 T). This research is aimed at producing a noticeable temperature change (2–3 °C) in a relatively smaller magnetic field (1 T) produced with permanent magnets. This work tests the feasibility of magnetic cooling by introducing the design of a magnetic cooling apparatus, using Gadolinium alloy (Gd5Si2Ge2). Small pebbles were used as opposed to a solid plate in order to have an increased surface area to enhance the convection heat transfer process. Permanent magnets were used in the apparatus, to decrease the operating cost. The maximum temperature change encountered in the heat exchanger of the apparatus built was 2.3 °C in a 1 T magnetic field.

Analysis of a Low-Speed Drive System Using Intelligent Materials

“…Sabyasachi P. et al [19] analyze the gadolinium (Gd) alloys and present the thermal and electrical conductivities when the disorder is increasing. Amanie N. Abdelmessih et al [20] design a cooling device using permanent magnets and gadolinium (Gd) alloy. They analyze the feasibility of the magnetic cooling on apparatus which are using gadolinium (Gd) alloy.…”

“…Figure 1 consists of a bibliometric network [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] which presents the trends on the focal points on gadolinium motors from 2014 to 2020. Around 2014, the main interests were corelated with the type of simulation that the gadolinium motor was used in, and as an important characteristic the thermal conductivity was highlighted.…”