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Numerical investigation of temperature span of magnetic refrigerator using geometric configuration of gadolinium based parallel plate regenerator

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Abstract

In this manuscript, a numerical investigation on the temperature gradient of a magnetic refrigerator using different geometric configurations of a parallel plate regenerator is presented. The parallel plate regenerator is made up of gadolinium (Gd) as a magnetocaloric material with rectangular channels. The parallel plate regenerator is modeled and numerically investigated for 3D conjugated fluid convection and conduction heat transfer using Ansys Fluent. Two piston-cylinder displacers drive water as the working fluid through the regenerator loop. The hot and cold end heat exchangers are treated with the ε-NTU method. The effect of changing the parallel plate regenerator’s dimensional parameters on temperature span is examined against the utilization factor of 0.1, keeping the regenerator’s porosity constant. The maximum temperature span is predicted by comparing simulated parallel plate magnetic regenerators for two diverse sets of dimensional parameters and surface areas is 36.5 K for magnetic field intensity of 0.8 T.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan, and the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, 54890, Pakistan

    Samia Sadaf, Muhammad Sajid Kamran & Muhammad Qasim

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Narowal Campus, Narowal, 51600, Pakistan

    Muhammad Waqas

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Muhammad Waqas

  4. Department of Chemical Engineering Technology, Government College University, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan

    Muhammad Ammar

Authors
  1. Samia Sadaf
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  2. Muhammad Sajid Kamran
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  3. Muhammad Qasim
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  4. Muhammad Waqas
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  5. Muhammad Ammar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Muhammad Ammar.

Additional information

Samia Sadaf is serving as a Lecturer in the Mechanical Engineering Department, Lahore Leads University, Pakistan. She received her B.Sc. degree from the University of Engineering & Technology Lahore, Pakistan. She has completed her Master’s degree in Mechanical Design Engineering from UET Lahore, Pakistan. Her research interests are computational fluid dynamics, magnetic refrigeration, and material sciences.

Muhammad Ammar is an Assistant Professor of the Department of Chemical Engineering Technology, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. His research interests include metallic materials for heat transfer, energy storage, and heterogeneous catalysis.

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Sadaf, S., Kamran, M.S., Qasim, M. et al. Numerical investigation of temperature span of magnetic refrigerator using geometric configuration of gadolinium based parallel plate regenerator. J Mech Sci Technol 35, 2219–2227 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-021-0438-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-021-0438-y

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