Thirty Years of Near Room Temperature Magnetic Cooling: Where we are Today and Future Prospects
The seminal study by Brown in 1976 showed that it was possible to use the magnetocaloric effect to produce a substantial cooling effect near room temperature. About 15 years later Green et al. built a device which actually cooled a load other than the magnetocaloric material itself and the heat exchange fluid. The major breakthrough, however, occurred in 1997 when the Ames Laboratory/Astronautics proof-of-principle refrigerator showed that magnetic refrigeration was competitive with conventional gas compression cooling. Since then, over 25 magnetic cooling units have been built and tested throughout the world. The current status of near room temperature magnetic cooling is reviewed, including a discussion of the major problems facing commercialization and potential solutions thereof. The future outlook for this revolutionary technology is discussed.
- Research Organization:
- Ames Lab., Ames, IA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-07CH11358
- OSTI ID:
- 936855
- Report Number(s):
- IS-J 7247; IJRFDI; TRN: US200818%%1264
- Journal Information:
- International Journal of Refrigeration, Vol. 31, Issue 6; ISSN 0140-7007
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
SP-100 program - Where we are today
Magnetocaloric Effect in La{sub 0.67}Ba{sub 0.33}Mn{sub 0.95}Ni{sub 0.05}O{sub 3} Manganite Near Room Temperature