Performance comparison of magnetic refrigeration cycles

Conference · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1990

OSTI ID:6453139

Chen, F C; Chen, G L; Murphy, R W; Mei, V C

Magnetic refrigeration has been used for cryogenic cooling at temperatures near absolute zero for many years. In these cases, a single-step adiabatic demagnetization method that does not provide continuous refrigeration is commonly used. The possibilities of providing continuous cooling through magnetic refrigeration cycles and of extending the range of applications above near-absolute-zero temperatures have been investigated only in recent years. This paper reports the results of a parametric performance study of three magnetic refrigeration cycles using four rare-earth magnetic materials operating near their respective Curie temperatures. The thermodynamic cycles employed are the magnetic-equivalent Carnot, Ericsson, and ideal regenerative cycles, and the four magnetic materials are terbium, holmium, erbium, and thulium. Our findings show that the Carnot cycle is not possible for cases of temperature lift beyond 10 K for a magnetic field variation of Tesla, that the performance and capacity of an ideal regenerative cycle are higher than that of the corresponding Ericsson cycle, and that the magnetocaloric effects of erbium and thulium seem to be too weak for practical applications. 14 refs., 14 figs.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/CE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 6453139
• Report Number(s): CONF-901029-1; ON: DE91001520
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

420201* -- Engineering-- Cryogenic Equipment & Devices
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ABSOLUTE ZERO TEMPERATURE
ADIABATIC DEMAGNETIZATION
CARNOT CYCLE
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
COOLING
CRYOGENICS
CURIE POINT
DATA ANALYSIS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY TRANSFER
ERBIUM
FLUIDS
GASES
HEAT TRANSFER
HELIUM
HOLMIUM
LATTICE VIBRATIONS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC MATERIALS
MAGNETIC REFRIGERATORS
MATERIALS
METALS
NONMETALS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RARE EARTHS
RARE GASES
REFRIGERATION
REFRIGERATORS
SIMULATION
TERBIUM
THERMODYNAMIC CYCLES
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
THULIUM
TRANSITION TEMPERATURE