Model of a porous regenerator used for magnetic refrigeration at room temperature

A transient three-dimensional model of a porous regenerator operating at room temperature is presented. The solid magnetic material and the regeneration fluid are modeled separately. The fluid flows through interstitial channels formed by a regular matrix of solid particles. The velocity, pressure and temperature fields are obtained from the simultaneous solution of the Navier–Stokes and energy equations with variable properties in the solid and the Boussinesq approximation for the fluid. The magnetocaloric effect (MCE) is taken into account by the inclusion of a source term in the energy equation for the magnetic solid. Special numerical schemes are used to avoid unrealistic computation time and memory requirements. Typical velocity fields and transient temperature profiles are presented.