Influence of inlet flow maldistribution and carryover losses on the performance of thermal regenerators

•The efficiency of magnetic refrigerators strongly depends on the effectiveness of AMRs.•Inlet flow maldistribution and dead volume losses reduce the effectiveness of AMRs.•Inlet flow maldistribution (recirculation) has a greater impact than dead volumes.•Shorter matrices are more sensitive to the i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied thermal engineering 2018-03, Vol.133, p.472-482
Main Authors: Trevizoli, P.V., Peixer, G.F., Nakashima, A.T., Capovilla, M.S., Lozano, J.A., Barbosa, J.R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Active Magnetic Regenerator (AMR)
Dead volumes
Generators
Inlet flow
Inlet flow maldistribution
Magnetic refrigeration
Passive regenerator apparatus
Pressure
Pressure loss
Refrigeration
Regenerators
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Summary:•The efficiency of magnetic refrigerators strongly depends on the effectiveness of AMRs.•Inlet flow maldistribution and dead volume losses reduce the effectiveness of AMRs.•Inlet flow maldistribution (recirculation) has a greater impact than dead volumes.•Shorter matrices are more sensitive to the inlet flow and dead volume effects.•An AMR model over predicted the performance curve data forCasing #4 by about 7%. Void (dead) volumes represent a penalty to the thermal performance of Active Magnetic Regenerators (AMR). While much effort has been put in designing AMRs with small void volumes, in most designs, penalties associated with inlet flow maldistribution and pressure loss may increase with the reduction of the void volumes. In this work, an experimental evaluation of the combined effect of void volume and inlet flow maldistribution is carried out. The analysis is performed based on the regenerator thermal effectiveness determined experimentally in a passive regenerator test apparatus. The results show that the negative impact of inlet flow maldistribution on the regenerator effectiveness is more significant than that of the void volume.
ISSN:1359-4311
1873-5606
DOI:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2018.01.055