Performance prediction of magnetocaloric heat pump with material layered active magnetic regenerator.

The function of the magnetocaloric heat pump with an active magnetic regenerator (AMR) cycle is based on a magnetocaloric effect (MCE). In the process of the AMR cycle, the range within which the magnetocaloric material (MCM) exhibits an MCE is narrow near its Curie point. Therefore, there is only a narrow temperature span in the case of an AMR with a single MCM. In order to solve this problem, an AMR system with material layers was used, based on the arrangement of a couple of MCMs in the regenerator. Given that only a limited number of studies exist on the magnetocaloric heat pump using a material-layered system, the influence of the MCM properties on this heat pump is still unclear. Therefore, the refrigeration capacity and the temperature span of the magnetocaloric heat pump using the material-layered system are numerically evaluated in this study in order to obtain guidance for the system design. These results are compared with those gotten extracted for the magnetocaloric heat pump of the single MCM.