Scaling and Optimization of Magnetic Refrigeration for Commercial Building HVAC Systems Greater than 175 kW in Capacity
- ORNL
Heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration (HVACR) account for approximately one- third of building energy consumption. Magnetic refrigeration presents an opportunity for significant energy savings and emissions reduction for serving the building heating, cooling, and refrigeration loads. In this paper, we have examined the magnet and MCE material requirements for scaling magnetic refrigeration systems for commercial building cooling applications. Scaling relationships governing the resources required for magnetic refrigeration systems have been developed. As system refrigeration capacity increases, the use of superconducting magnet systems becomes more applicable, and a comparison is presented of system requirements for permanent and superconducting (SC) magnetization systems. Included in this analysis is an investigation of the ability of superconducting magnet based systems to overcome the parasitic power penalty of the cryocooler used to keep SC windings at cryogenic temperatures. Scaling relationships were used to develop the initial specification for a SC magnet-based active magnetic regeneration (AMR) system. An optimized superconducting magnet was designed to support this system. In this analysis, we show that the SC magnet system consisting of two 0.38 m3 regenerators is capable of producing 285 kW of cooling power with a T of 28 K. A system COP of 4.02 including cryocooler and fan losses which illustrates that an SC magnet-based system can operate with efficiency comparable to traditional systems and deliver large cooling powers of 285.4 kW (81.2 Tons).
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Building Technologies Research and Integration Center (BTRIC)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 1081913
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: THERMAG V, 5th IIR/IIF International Conference on Magnetic Refrigeration at Room Temperature, Grenoble, France, 20120917, 20120920
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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