MnFe-based magnetocaloric materials exist a giant magnetocaloric effect so that they can be used as the working substance for room-temperature magnetic refrigeration. But there are two key problems to be solved before employing them as the working substance: one is that for single MnFe-based material, its giant magnetocaloric effect only arise in a small temperature range and the other is that these materials exist generally thermal hysteresis. For these reasons, a novel composite material based on MnFe-based materials is designed optimally, and a regenerative Ericsson refrigeration cycle using the composite material as the working substance is established. Furthermore, the performance of the refrigeration cycle with the composite is analyzed and evaluated. The influences of thermal hysteresis on main thermodynamic parameters of the refrigeration cycle are revealed by numerical calculation. The research results can provide some significant guidances for the parametric design and performance improvement of room-temperature magnetic refrigerators.

MnFe基磁热材料存在巨磁热效应，可作为室温磁制冷的工作物质。但在将其用作工作物质之前，有两个关键问题需要解决：一是对于单一的MnFe基材料，其巨磁热效应仅在很小的温度范围内产生，二是这些材料普遍存在热滞后。为此，优化设计了基于MnFe基材料的新型复合材料，并建立了以该复合材料为工质的蓄热式爱立信制冷循环。此外，对复合材料的制冷循环性能进行了分析和评估。通过数值计算揭示了热滞对制冷循环主要热力学参数的影响。研究结果可为室温磁制冷机的参数化设计和性能提升提供一些重要的指导。