Simulation study of heat transfer enhancement for all-solid-state room temperature magnetic refrigeration system

Abstract

To address issues relating to large thermal resistance and low heat transfer efficiency between and inside magnetocaloric materials (MCM) in all-solid-state room-temperature magnetic refrigeration technology, this study adopted the method of inserting high thermal conductivity materials (HTCM) into MCM and coupling Peltier elements between MCMs to enhance the heat transfer inside MCM and between microcells, thereby improving the refrigeration performance of the system. In doing so, a two-dimensional simulation model was developed using COMSOL Multiphysics software. The cooling performance enhancement effect of the system resulting from heat transfer improvement within MCM and between MCMs was investigated separately. Furthermore, the impacts of various system operating parameters (such as the number of micro-cell divisions, initial operating temperature, heat transfer time, magnetic field strength, Peltier input voltage), different HTCMs and insertion volume ratios on the system’s cooling performance were explored. The simulation results reveal that, in comparison with the original magnetic refrigeration system, the optimized heat transfer time of the system following enhanced heat transfer within the MCM is reduced from 180s to 8s, accompanied by a 115% increase in the maximum temperature span. Furthermore, coupling the Peltier elements elevates the maximum temperature span by 274%.

Keywords:

• Heat transfer enhancement
• micro-element cycle
• numerical simulation
• Peltier elements
• solid-state magnetic refrigeration

Author contributions

All authors have contributed to the above research ideas and designs. The construction of the simulation model and the exploration and analysis of the parameters were completed by Jinfei Wang and Quanfang Chen (supervisor). The first draft of the manuscript was written by Jinfei Wang and all the authors commented on the editing of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.