Modeling of a two-stage magnetic refrigerator with wavy-structure gadolinium heat exchangers

In a rotary magnetic refrigerator a porous ring is turning in and out of a magnetic field region. The adiabatic demagnetization of the magnetocaloric material produces the “cold energy”. This is described by a discontinuous temperature decrease, known as adiabatic temperature difference. For such a machine a physical model has been developed, based on a mapping of the magneto-thermodynamic problem. In this model, in a basic centre cell, two coupled linear partial differential equations are solved, which have been programmed in the Modelica language. The operation of a magnetic refrigerator is simulated with numerous parameters. Steady state solutions are obtained to verify the coefficient of performance under stable operation conditions. Optimal running conditions – defined by maximum values of the coefficient of performance – are not presented in this article, but can now easily be obtained with the existing program. A simple regulation strategy is proposed and implemented into the program.